The Saugerties High School varsity bowling team dominated in its latest Section IX match, with both the boys and girls sides beating Middletown 19-1. With the win the boys’ side improved to 2-0 and the girls to 1-1.
In the match held on Tuesday, December 10 at the Saugerties Bowlers Club, Chad McPeek (226-215—441), Jeremy Squires (222-216—438) and Aero Ferrendino (204-234—438) led the Sawyer boys, while Ashley Altieri (200-186—386) and Tyler Bodie (220-218—348) paced the girls.
The dominant win came six days after the Sawyers split a pair of close matches with Kingston at Patel’s Kingston Lanes, with the boys coming out ahead 12-8 and the girls falling 11-9. McPeek again led the Saugerties boys, rolling a 196-193—389, with Dawson Wood (221) and Squires (212) turning in excellent rounds. On the girls’ side, Kieran Hinchey
led the way with 172-180—352.
Section IX matches are being played under a new scoring system this season, with bowlers rolling just two head-to-head matches that are worth one point. Teams with the highest scratch from each game earns three points, while teams with the highest pin-fall receives four points. The section doubled in size coming into the season, with Newburgh Free Academy, Middletown, Chester and Washingtonville all rolling into their inaugural seasons.
“Bowling them for the first time is an unknown as it relates to coming up with your team game plan, unlike other sports that have established programs and you can go into a contest having an idea of what they are about and what they will do as far as game plan,” said Sawyer Coach Sean Collins. “For example, when we bowl (an established program like) Kingston we know that they are a strong program and we are going to see their best, and it goes the same for when they face us.”
While new teams bring with them a sense of unfamiliarity, in the case of Middletown there was also a relative lack of competitive experience. It also helped that the Sawyers are bowling well.
“It was a good victory for us as far as how we performed as a team in reference to when bowlers on the team are doing really well and some are struggling,” said Collins. “Over two games the girls averaged 840 and the Boys averaged 1,025, very good numbers for this early in the season. We also had some individuals on the team start to see the benefits of the practice and hard work they have been putting in over the last few weeks.”
Next up for the Sawyers is a visit to Monroe-Woodbury on Thursday, December 12, followed three days later by their own Baker system invitational tournament at the Saugerties Bowlers Club. The Baker system is a format where more than one bowler accounts for the score of one game. In this case, the tournament will be a five-person format, with the first bowler rolling frames one and six, the second frames two and seven, and so on, finishing with the anchor bowling frames five and 10.
While lineups are set at the beginning of a Baker system match, they can be changed from game to game. On Sunday, there will be a total of 10 games bowled for both boys and girls, with the top three teams of each determined by the total pin-fall. A two-game Baker style playoff will then determine the winner of the tournament.
A trophy for team single high game for boys and girls will also be given.
The Sawyers’ season runs through mid-February, with a final home match against Washingtonville on Tuesday, February 11 followed two days later by a trip to Highland.