Cranford Bowlers Fall to Roselle Catholic, 7-0

The Cranford bowling team knew that they were in for a tough start when they saw that they were taking on Linden, Scotch Plains and Roselle Catholic, some of the best teams in the Union County League, in their first three games of the season.

Head coach Rich Goldstein saw what he thinks is the best team of the three on Wednesday, when Roselle Catholic defeated Cranford 7-0 at the Jersey Lanes in Linden.

A young, inexperienced Cranford team was no match for the likes of the Lions' Joe Gramiak and Lou Clemente as they fell in all three games and in total pins.

Cranford has started the season with a 0-21 record and will try to get their first points on Monday against Elizabeth.

Roselle Catholic's Gramiak had a 778 series that included a 279 and 269 games. Clemente had a 646 series including a 234 in the third game. Cranford just did not have the depth that Roselle Catholic had as the Lions' three other players had scores in the 180s and 190s for many of the games.

Despite the loss, Goldstein is seeing improvements on the team, especially from Jason Fried and Scott Belmont. Fried raised his average almost 40 points to 122 this week while Belmont raised his average 14 points this week to 150.

"I'm very happy with their performances," said Goldstein.

Leading the way for Cranford on Wednesday was Chris Juliano who had a 616 series and a 205 average along with a pair of 223 games.

"He's played fantastic and he knows what he wants to do and went out and did it," said Goldstein. "He's really going to be a force to be reckoned with next year."

Mike Milwicz put up a 202 in the first game for the best of his three games for him.

Last week Rothstein said that the team had to work harder in practice on its spares, and it seems like the extra work paid off. But the head coach knows what the team will have to do to get some points and end up on the other side of the ledger.

"Consistency and continuing to work on getting the spares [will help]," said Goldstein. "Also it is the mental game, to think about the frames ahead of you instead of dwelling on the ones that you have finished."

Cranford 2009-10 Bowling Schedule

(Matches at 4 p.m. at Jersey Lanes in Linden unless noted)

Dec. 2                     Linden, 0-7

Dec. 7                     Scotch Plains, 0-7

Dec. 9                     Roselle Catholic, 0-7

Dec. 14                  Elizabeth

Dec. 17                  St. Mary's of Elizabeth

Dec. 21                  Westfield

Jan. 4                     Summit

Jan. 6                     St. Patrick's

Jan. 9                     Central Jersey Winter Classic, Carolier Lanes, 9:30 a.m.

Jan. 11                   Roselle

Jan. 14                   Johnson

Jan. 20                   Roselle Park

Jan. 25                   Plainfield

Jan. 27                   Union

Jan. 28                   Hillside

Feb. 1                     UCIAC Tournament

Feb. 3                     UCIAC Tournament

Feb. 4                     UCIAC Tournament

Feb. 8                     Rahway