This week, the new bowling team played on Monday and Tuesday, for a total of two matches. On December 5, they played against Warwick High School in a scrimmage. The Rams then went on to play Columbia High School on Tuesday for the first official game of the season.

A bowling match consists of a total of three games, almost like a three game series in baseball, but all in one day. In a game, there are a total of five players that will compete for each team, then the total score out of those five players (from each team) will add up to the team’s game total.

Likewise, in a match of three games, if a team wins two out of three games, that team will win the match.

Constructing a bowling lineup is more complicated than you may think. The best bowler will bowl last, also called the anchor. The first bowler will usually be the team’s second best bowler, the third best bowler on the team will bowl before the anchor. The team’s fourth best bowler will bowl second, and the fifth best bowler will bowl in the third spot.

Teams can alternate bowlers in and out between games, however, only up to three alternates can be used per match. While only three alternates can be used, there usually will be more than three bowlers available to be used as alternates.

However, teams will have a minimum of three alternates. The alternate bowlers bowl on another lane as a junior varsity team.

In Monday’s game against Warwick High School, the Rams lost the two games in the match, resulting in a loss in the match.

The two teams only played two games because another league was coming in to play. This particular match was considered a scrimmage, so playing only two games was not a big deal.

The Warwick team’s players threw scores of 200 or better, and David Drake was the only Rams player to throw a score of 200 or better.

“I really did not have any expectations except I wanted to see everyone do their best, keep their cool, and have fun. This scrimmage was a learning tool for me as a coach to set goals for my players and to learn how my players perform in competition,” coach Joel Logan said.

Logan also said that both of Warwick’s varsity and junior varsity teams were more experienced than our teams.

Sophomore bowler Colt Merrifield said he thought that the Rams did well for their very first match as a team.

Logan said “I was pleased to see that the folks that I started showed grace under pressure. Many of my players surprised me and showed a fighting spirit I did not know that they had. My kids rock!”

Logan also said that he was proud of the team’s good attitude and the excellent sportsmanship that the athletes displayed.

“ Some improvements that need to be made are controlling nerves and making spares. I felt everyone was nervous and didn’t know what to expect, but the most important thing is making spares,” Merrifield said in regards to what improvements need to be made for the next match.

In Tuesday’s game against Columbia High School, the Rams won all three games resulting in a win in the match.

Logan started Colt Merrifield, Takoda Stike, Jordyn Bruening, Michael Zabkowski, and David Drake in that order for the varsity team. A total of six other bowlers were available to be used as alternates, but Logan did not alternate anybody.

In the first game, the Rams bowled for a total score of 688, and Columbia bowled a total of 641.

In addition, Merrifield bowled a 126, Stike bowled a 122, Bruening bowled a 100, Zabkowski bowled a 105, and Drake bowled a 235.

Furthermore, the Rams bowled for a total of 771 in the second game; whereas, Columbia bowled for a total of 608.

In like manner, Merrifield bowled a 179, Stike bowled a 153, Bruening bowled a 121, Zabkowski bowled a 108, and Drake bowled a 210.

Finally, for the last game, the Rams bowled for a total of 598, and Columbia made it a close game bowling for a total of 583.

In sum, Merrifield bowled a 91, Stike bowled a 127, Bruening bowled a 85, Zabkowski bowled a 119, and Drake bowled a 176.

When looking back at this match, Logan said, “I am still dancing on sunshine about this match. I did not expect a win, let alone a rout so early in the season or our career at KD Bowling.”

During this match, the Rams did a better job of hitting their mark and making spares than they did in the scrimmage against Warwick.

Merrifield felt that everybody played very well against an evenly matched team.

“Columbia seemed to be evenly matched. They had mostly new bowlers, like us, and a new to PIAA Bowling coach, like us. We won on spares and better opening shots so that even our opens were mostly nine pin frames,” Logan said.