Bellmore-Merrick Girls Bowling Sweeps Island Trees

The Bellmore-Merrick girls bowling team dominated Island Trees on Thursday afternoon, claiming all 11 points up for grabs behind the play of a pair of Calhoun seniors in Kate Brown and Nicole Celauro.  

The girls took advantage of their opponents’ mistakes to jump out to an early lead and kept the pressure on until the end to seal the win 1,961-1,498.

“Everyone bowled pretty well today,” head coach Keri Cinelli said. “In the beginning we had a little bit of a struggle trying to get the average scores, but we came through to get all 11 points.”  

Brown started off quick to post the match-high score with a 222. Celauro backed her up with a strong score of 188. A pair of Mepham seniors in Victoria Sorrentio and Laura Rooney followed up the two high scores with a 135 and 119, respectively. Bellmore-Merrick took a sizeable lead after one game 664-511.  

Brown and Celauro served as the backbone of the squad in the next game, posting scores of 182 and 175. Mepham junior Paige Laupheimer came in for Sorrentino to bowl a solid score of 146, followed by a second substitute in Calhoun freshman Kayla Cappuzzo,who rolled a 117. Bellmore-Merrick added to its lead with a 620-463 win.  

With the match in hand, Cinelli gave her two high scorers a rest, but that didn’t stop the big numbers from coming in. Rooney came back in to bowl a 189, followed by Sorrentino with a 182. Cappuzzo vastly improved on her first game, posting a 157, and finally Laupheimer contributed with a 149. The girls completed the sweep with a 677-524 win.  

“We just kept doing everything consistently,” Brown said. “I just kept hitting my mark and throwing the ball aggressively, so I was very happy with it.”  

Cinelli hopes Brown is amongst her potential county qualifiers at seasons’ end along with Celauro, Cappuzzo, Rooney, and potentially Sorrentino if all goes well. 

“We are hoping to get four girls in the counties this year,” Cinelli said. “If Victoria keeps bowling the way she has, she could earn her way up there. She has the potential to do so.”  

Bellmore-Merrick improves its record to 3-1 and will face Plainedge next Monday at 4:15 p.m. at South Levittown Lanes.