Molloy, LIU Post, Adelphi compete in ECC women’s bowling championships

It was March Madness at Port Jeff Bowl on Saturday.

Molloy College, LIU Post and host Adelphi University all represented Long Island in the third annual East Coast Conference (ECC) Women’s Bowling Championship, which includes 12 teams from the region.

In a double-elimination best-of-seven game series format, the second day of the tournament featured a match between Adelphi and Molloy in the final round of the afternoon. Play was based off a Baker System, where five bowlers on a team roll two frames each.

Adelphi will begin the finals in the non-winners bracket on Sunday, as Molloy and LIU were eliminated.

But despite the scores, bowlers went from standing a lane apart to behind one another. Former rivals now teammates, No. 11 ranked and two-time defending ECC champions, Adelphi, consist of five former Long Island high school bowlers including:

Two-time ECC Player of the Year, Newsday Bowler of the Year and Junior Team USA member, Rebecca Gotterbarn (Sewanhaka), Newsday Bowler of the Year Skylar McGarrity (North Babylon), Katelyn LaRocca (Islip) along with Lena Sorrentino and Olivia Lopera of East Islip.

“It’s cool to go from competing against each other to then being on the same team,” LaRocca said. “There were times where I would love to beat these guys, loved it, now I got to back them up 100 percent.”

“I used to read about them in the newspaper all the time,” Gotterbarn added.

The senior, who was invited to this summer’s Women’s Open, said playing together now on one team makes her better.

“By bowling collegiality, you have the opportunity to bowl against some of the best bowlers in the country, and lucky for us, we also get to bowl with some of the best bowlers in the country,” she said. “So I think seeing each other and drawing off of each other’s intensity, I know that when some girl comes back from a really good shot and is intense, it just really wants to make us all perform better.”

LaRocca said the team feeds off each other’s energy.

Sorrentino was the first female to roll a 300 in Suffolk County bowling history. Lopera, Sorrentino’s teammate for seven years, broke the Long Island high-average record with a 228 in 2015-16, formerly held by Britt Arne of Patchogue-Medford (226.33).

“In high school we all came from different programs, and each program was very intense so we all had our own things that we did when we bowled and we all brought it together and now we’re Adelphi,” Lopera said.

What has it been like for freshman McGarrity in her transition to college bowling?

“They’ve taken me under their wing, thankfully, but I’ve learned something different from each of the girls and it’s great to have role models like them because I want to be just like them,” McGarrity said. “It’s cool to be able to bowl with them, they’re such great bowlers.”

At the helm, Adelphi coach Dennis Kearney was named ECC Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season.

In just their third year as a program, Molloy, led by Dr. Robert Cincotta, went from a 1-15 record its first season to busting brackets and winning three rounds before matching up against Adelphi in the final six.

Former Bethpage High School and now Molloy bowler Carly Licht began the sport in first grade.

“I think bringing from high school it’s so much different here because we play with different oil patterns and things like that,” she said. “Starting in high school really got me prepared with the team environment and I think it really helped.”

Other Long Island representatives are Bailey Lubrano (St. Dominic), Rosie Snyder (MacArthur), Christie Warmingham (Farmingdale) and Mackenzie Wagner (Syosset).

LIU Post’s Sarah Busse (Commack), Cara Kennedy (Kellenberg), Patricia Kelly (Comsewogue), Alexis Kosakavich (Plainview JFK) and Emily Cavanaugh and Pamela Penso of West Islip all bowled in high school, led by North Babylon’s Edward Raven.

For the first time, the tournament provides an at-large bid to the winner, who will earn a berth in the NCAA Tournament based on newly introduced rules. Previously, the top eight teams were selected based on rankings.

Adelphi will need to win three matches to defend its title on Sunday.

The ECC champion will earn a berth to the NCAA Championships in Richmond Heights, Missouri from April 11 to April 14.