Perfection! LI bowler Jeremy Milito rolls a 900 series
Jeremy Milito, of Patchogue, shot a 900 series at Farmingdale Lanes on Thursday. Credit: Newsday/Steve Pfost
Jeremy Milito bowled a 300 game Thursday night at Farmingdale Lanes. He followed with another. And another.
The 26-year-old financial analyst from Patchogue had just rolled an immaculate 900 series, becoming only the second Long Islander to do so and have it sanctioned by the United States Bowling Congress.
“Everybody started treating me a like a pitcher with a no hitter,” he said, recalling when he was eight strikes deep into his third game in the Epic Edge Trios Mixed League. “I was nervous on the inside, but I know I looked calm on the outside. I knew what was going on around me, but I never looked up in the 10th frame at all the people.”
Joe Novara, 28, of East Patchogue, who bowled Long Island’s first perfect series in 2017 at East Islip Lanes, was one of the first to congratulate Milito.
“Joey texted me right away,” Milito said. “We’re good friends and he was watching it being livestreamed on Facebook. People were blowing up my phone.”
Milito’s previous high series was an 878 in 2017 at Sayville’s AMF Lanes. He shot games of 278-300-300 that night. He said he has bowled more than 70 perfect games in his amateur career, which will come to an end in a few days.
“I’ll get my professional card in May,” he said. “It’s exciting.”
The whispers turned into cheers as Jeremy Milito buried strike after strike Thursday night but there was no announcement of what was happening over the public address system
“We didn’t announce it when he rolled his second 300 of the night because we didn’t want to jinx his shot at a perfect series” said Farmingdale Lanes manager Steve Ziesig. “Naturally, people started to migrate over to his lanes. And the crowd grew with every roll.”
Milito said his third game was smooth and had a really nice rhythm but he noticed the scenery around him had changed.
Milito said, as he approached the 10th frame, the bowling center was eerily silent. He buried three straight high flush strikes, no doubters, for his third 300 and the perfect 900 series. The crowd erupted.
“I was ready to get it over with,” Milito said. “I went that far, so it was happening. I’ve thrown enough triples in my life and I needed to do it right there. The atmosphere was awesome.”
The 5-11, 190-pound Milito, who graduated from Sachem East High School in 2011, was a three-time Newsday All-Long Island selection. He led Suffolk County with a 230.5 average as a sophomore. He was also a four-year starter and two-year captain at Stony Brook University and qualified for the NCAA nationals as a freshman. He graduated in 2015 with a double major in business management and economics and a minor in accounting.
“We’re planning a special trophy presentation,” said John LaSpina, who owns the bowling establishment. “This is such a great accomplishment. . . . Farmingdale is a tough scoring house and those two lanes are considered to be the toughest. It’s not the bunny slope.”
Gregg Sarra is Newsday's high school sports editor and has been on the beat since the mid-1980s.
