Skalacki leads Suffolk All-Star bowlers

The Suffolk All-Star bowling teams, which were comprised of the top five averages in the county and the winner of the Suffolk singles tournament, will compete against fellow sectional All-Star teams at the state tournament in Syracuse on March 6.

Leading the boys All-Star team will be Matt Skalacki of Middle Country, who set a new Suffolk county record with a 232.7 average. He will be joined by Jeremy Milito (229 average) and Steve Sabella (219.3) of Sachem East, Gregg Reed (220) of Smithtown, Josh Sposito (218) of Lindenhurst, and Joseph Pontorno (217.8) of Hauppauge.

Representing the girls will be Middle Country's Melissa Sherwin, who finished with the highest average among Long Island girls with a 215.3 and also won the singles tournament. She is joined by her teammate Kelly Skalacki (206.2), Jessica Calandra (206) of Patchogue-Medford, Brianna Meyer (204.8) and Kylie Spillett (198.3) of Longwood and Lori Greenblatt (197.1) of Islip.

Eddy Tuskan, the singles tournament winner, Bobby Martin (223) and Joe Griffin (220) of the county champion East Islip boys team and Lena Sorrentino (209), Tara Ernst (204 ), Nancy Baione (200) of the county champion East Islip girls team all qualified for the All-Star team but were replaced in order to compete for state titles in the team tournaments.

SJB cleans up

St. John the Baptist has been sweeping the lanes recently.

The boys and girls teams captured CHSAA championships and the girls received two more awards at the individual tournament. Caroline Herrera was named league MVP and Katelyn Coon won the tournament's high game award for her 206 in Game 2 - 70 pins over her season average.

"Yeah, it's been a pretty amazing ride for us," said Coon, who led the Cougars' celebratory Red Mango run after Wednesday's championship.

Goodbye to an alley

Holy Trinity got news last Monday that North Levittown Lanes, its home since the program's inception, is in its final months of operation.

The bowling alley, which stood for more than 50 years, will be closed in June to eventually be demolished and replaced by an Assisted Living facility. The Titans' new home will likely be South Levittown Lanes, which is expected to expand from 36 to 48 lanes. The team will bid farewell following Tuesday's student/faculty tournament.

That's all, folks

The is no state bowling tournament in the CHSAA for girls. The boys will continue on to next month's state bowling tournament, but the girls' season wrapped up Thursday with the individual championship.

"I really wish there were states for us," said Kellenberg senior Monica Weitekamp, echoing the sentiments of several others. "We'd love to compete at that level, but it's kind of sad that we're missing out."

The CHSAA girls league is relatively new - Long Island's formed six years ago - and many of the schools upstate are still transitioning from co-ed teams.

Holy Trinity coach Mary Messina said there has been a recent groundswell for a girls state tournament and she expects for there to be one "in the very near future.