Bay Shore's Saunds, Floyd's Ruiz roll 300s

Not long after the ball was out of Valone Saunds' hand, there was a cell phone in it and a buddy on the other end. The conversation went something like this: "In your face! I told you so!"

Steve, the older brother of Bay Shore teammate Justin Rivera, was the first person outside of East Islip Lanes to get the news of Saunds' first 300 game Tuesday in the Suffolk Large Schools Tournament . . . solely because he was the most skeptical of its possibility.

"He graduated but we compete with each other for fun and he's always talking trash about how I can't get a 300," said Saunds, who accomplished the feat in Round 1 of the four-round tournament. The senior's previous high was a 255. "I told him I did it and he didn't believe me until I put his brother on."

Saunds admitted he was frazzled before throwing his 12th ball and his description of himself sounded like the opening lines of Eminem's "Lose Yourself" - "My palms were all sweaty, my legs felt weak," he said.

But he was steady when it mattered, which was a relief for coach Dawn Vallone, who also was on edge.

"I was like, 'Come on, come on,' she said. "He's only been on the team two years and he's worked hard to get better, so it's really cool for him to end like this."

Saunds' sole occupancy of the spotlight was brief, though, as Floyd junior Jorge Ruiz had his first perfect game in Round 3.

SEE PHOTOSSuffolk bowling championships

"I just didn't want to gutter," Ruiz said of his thoughts before the final roll. "I wasn't thinking about the 300 yet."

He didn't have much time to think about it afterward when teammate Eddie Canillas rushed the lane and picked him up.

Ruiz, whose previous high was a 290 last year, gave some of the credit to his new Virtual Energy ball, which he started using only three days ago.

Yeah, there were team accomplishments, too. The tournament serves mostly as an exhibition before Saturday's county championships at Sayville Lanes. But bragging rights do count for something, and it's East Islip that laid claim to those for the fourth straight year.

Behind Jacob Klein's 770 series, the Redmen toppled 4,637 pins. Middle Country, led by Matt Skalacki's 733 series, took second (4,408), and Steve Sabella's 740 led Sachem East (4,373) to third.

"Some of our top competitors were here so it's a good feeling going into counties knowing we beat them once," said East Islip's Bobby Martin.

Middle Country did edge East Islip, 1145-1142, in their head-to-head matchup in Round 3. That, of course, is an interesting prelude to the counties as the two teams have the highest averages on Long Island.

Notes and quotes: Skalacki finished the regular season with a 232.72 average, breaking the Suffolk record of 232.64, set in 2008 by Bay Shore's Jon Trzcinski.