Samantha Slocum's 268 helps Longwood win Suffolk bowling title
Cassie Edwards from Longwood competes at the Suffolk bowling team championships at Sayville Lanes on Saturday in Sayville Credit: Pablo Garcia Corradi
Six pins separated the Longwood and Sachem girls bowling teams for the top spot at the Suffolk team championship Saturday as they headed into the sixth and final game at Bowlero Sayville.
Longwood had the advantage and kept it thanks to Samantha Slocum’s best game of her junior season.
Slocum threw eight consecutive strikes in a 268 Game 6 to propel her squad to the county title. She finished with a 1,053 five-game series.
"I was able to really feed off the energy of my teammates," Slocum said. "They were all making a ton of noise and it helped me big time to put up that score."
Longwood totaled 6,602 pins, Sachem was second (5,908) and East Islip placed third (5,808). For Longwood, Cassandra Edwards had a 245 in Game 4 of a 1,298 six-game series, Katelyn Wheeler had a 206 in both Game 2 and 3 of an 1,165 six-game series, Jolie Penney rolled a 268 in Game 1 and Mikayla James tossed a 249 in Game 5.
After the three-game morning session, Sachem led by one pin over Longwood, 2,986 to 2,985. Following an hour lunch break, Sachem extended its lead to 71 pins with a 1,023 in Game 4. Longwood answered with a 1,060 in Game 5 to take the six-pin lead .
"Our number one girl [Katelyn Wheeler] was seventh-best in the county with a 207.92 average. East Islip and Sachem each had two girls above that," Huey said. "We had so many girls step up and bowl better than their average and it was truly a great all-around team performance."
Longwood will represent Section XI in the state tournament on Sunday, Mar. 13, at AMF Strike-N-Spare Lanes in Syracuse. Cira Arcangel (Sachem), Shannon Darby (Sachem), Leighanna Tolan (Central Islip), Canan Bademci (Patchogue-Medford), Dakota Collins (East Islip) and Kailyn Bloch (East Islip) will make up the Section XI All-Star team that will compete at the states on Saturday, Mar. 12. Bloch’s 217.5 average over six games was the highest of the county tournament. Emily Kulkarni (Sachem) will serve as an alternate on the sectional team.
"I can’t wait to be up in Syracuse with this group of girls," Slocum said. "If we bowl like we did today, I think we can make some noise up there.
