Marissa Mele's 1,152 series helps Seaford win third straight crown
Marissa Mele of Seaford gets ready to roll during the Nassau County Division II girls bowling championship at AMF Garden City Lanes on Saturday, Feb. 1, 2020. Credit: James Escher
The Seaford girls bowling juggernaut rolls on.
Behind Marissa Mele’s 1,152 six-game series the Vikings captured their third straight Nassau Division II championship Saturday at Garden City Lanes.
The Vikings totaled 4,970 pins as a team in the six games, which for the second straight year meant they topped even the Division I competitors.
“Our success is based on our PAL program, our coaches and the dedication of our girls,” Seaford coach Berto Cerasi said. “These girls practice all off season and they’re in leagues over the summer - they actually have a tournament tomorrow.”
Clarke finished second in Division II with 4,127, Locust Valley was third with 4,064 and Carle Place was fourth with 3,941.
“We work really hard and even though we’re low in numbers the bowlers we do have work just as hard and want it as much as anyone,” Seaford's Paige Donovan said. Donovan finished the day with an 1,136 series, including a high of 259 in the second game.
Seaford has known nothing but winning since the program began four years ago. Now they’ll head back to Syracuse the weekend of March 13 looking for the one thing that has eluded them - a state title.
“Me and Paige had bowled together when we were younger but everybody else started when the team started,” Mele said. “Another one of our seniors didn’t even start bowling until three years ago.”
It wasn’t as cut and dry for Division as they captured the Division I title. The Blue Dragons entered the final game with a 77-pin lead over Mineola, yet it took until the final two bowlers for Division to clinch the championship.
Brillian Soedarmasto stepped to the line as the days final bowler and clinched it for the Blue Dragons. She capped a 1,101 series that included a high of 216 in game four to help send her team upstate after finishing third last year.
Division finished with 4,707 total pins. Mineola was second with 4,691 and Bellmore-Merrick was third with 4,537.
“I was really pushing the whole game and trying to pull through,” Katherine Oswald said. “Once I threw my final ball I knew it was out of my hands. That’s the worst feeling but I had the trust in my teammates.”
Oswald, the team’s first bowler, rolled a 193 in the sixth game and had a 997 series.
“I didn’t even know the calculations but I knew we came in with a 77-pin lead,” Soedarmasto said. “This is a mental game and as long as your mind is right and you’re calm it’s all good.”
Gene Morris joined Newsday's sports department in September 2012 and covers high school sports. He earned a journalism degree from Stony Brook University in 2010.
