Bellmore-Merrick Bowling Narrowly Edges Wantagh

Bellmore-Merrick and Wantagh are two evenly matched teams. So evenly matched, in fact, that they managed to tie each other twice.

The battle between the top two teams in the league lived up to the hype Wednesday evening, as Bellmore-Merrick won the first game. They then proceeded to tie Wantagh in the next two. They split the points for the last two games, but since Bellmore-Merrick won the first game and the accumulative total, they defeated Wantagh by an overall score of 8-3. The two ties were something that coach Bianca had never seen before.

"We have never had a tie before," said Bianca. "We've lost by one and we've won by one, but never a tie. So two ties back-to-back was an incredible thing."

In the only game of the night that actually featured a winning team, Bellmore-Merrick started off strong by defeating Wantagh 798-731. This was the team's highest score, and featured consistent scores all around. Calhoun junior Dan Mueller bowled a 184, Calhoun senior Mike Cappuzzo had a 193 and Mepham senior Ricky Hough finished with a 208. The highest score of the game belonged to Calhoun senior Chris Vogel with a 213.

"I think we stepped up pretty well," said Vogel. "But the first game was pretty big to get the first win."

Game two was when things got interesting. While Wantagh led most of the way, Bellmore-Merrick hit their stride late and made a comeback. The score remained close all the way until their final bowl. With one bowler left for each team, the score remained tied. Ricky Hough and Wantagh's Andrew Biscar each spared the 10th frame and had a single bowl left to claim the victory for their team. Hough bowled first and knocked down eight pins. Biscar, needing nine pins to win, followed by matching Hough with an eight and securing the tie at 748-748.

Many people stopped bowling to watch this last frame, which added to the pressure. However, Hough said he tried to not let that get to him.

"I just try to hit my mark and get it clean off my hand, and hopefully I carry," said Hough. "The whole problem was that the lanes were tight, and no one could carry."

Hough led his team with a 218, and Dan Mueller had the next-highest score with a 192.

Game three continued the trend of dramatic finishes. With Calhoun junior Scott Castellano replacing Dan Mueller, the two teams remained within striking distance of each other throughout the entire game.

Once again, it came down to the final frame. After Chris Vogel struck out the 10th frame, it came down once again to Ricky Hough and Andrew Biscar. Hough spared the tenth frame, while Biscar bowled a strike. This left Bellmore-Merrick up by a single pin. Hough bowled a nine, leaving Biscar in position to win it for Wantagh with another strike. He proceeded to bowl an eight, meaning he needed to knock down the two pins to tie, which he did. The two teams finished deadlocked once again, 741-741.

The two teams appropriately shook hands after the match, congratulating each other on some great bowling. However, coach Bianca knows to always expect a good match whenever his team squares off against Wantagh.

"The lanes were a little tough today," said Bianca. "But both teams came in and they competed, and they look forward to this since spring competition."

Bellmore-Merrick won the last two points by managing to narrowly edge Wantagh in the accumulative total by a score of 2,287-2,220.

The girls' varsity team was not as successful as the boys. They fell to Wantagh 8-3, with Nicole Celauro bowling a high series of 432.