The 2015-2016 bowling season begins this afternoon at 3:45pm as the Pirates host the Holy Cross Lancers at Laurel Lanes in Maple Shade. Here is our season preview for the co-ed squad, which is led by Anthony Faltz.
Both the boys and girls bowl in the Burlington County Scholastic League Freedom Division. The boys finished the 2014-2015 season with an overall mark of 7-10-0 and a division mark of 6-4-0 with 12 points and in third place.
The girls finished last season winless in the division (0-9-1) and overall (0-16-1), securing a single point en route to a last-place finish in the Freedom. The girls recorded one tie last year and it came in division play.
“I had one senior graduate last year,” Faltz said. “My returning players were sophomores, now juniors, predominantly. I do have a couple of seniors, but one of them just started this year. He was playing in his own league and decided to come out this year because he has some friends on the bowling squad.”
The Pirates boast a very heavy underclass squad in 2015-2016.
“When we started looking at the squad last year we saw we had a lot of freshmen and sophomores after losing a lot of seniors the year before,” Faltz said. “We were anticipating a more learning, fundamental squad last year. This is the year we felt we would be highly competitive.”
By their sixth and final practice of the pre-season, the boys were already bowling close to 1,000 pins in practice games as a team.
“A lot of the boys are bowling with the same people they bowled with last year and they are just more comfortable and they prefer that. It’s a close-knit group,” Faltz said. “So are the girls. Both took our recommendation and bowled off-season by getting involved in leagues throughout the entire year. Coming into us, they’ve already been playing in leagues and bowling with each other.”
Faltz also said that both squads would get together and bowl on weekends outside of their league play.
“They really have taken their own interest and active role. They would get together and almost do practice groups. That really has been beneficial just by looking at their scores this year.”
With such a loaded schedule, the Pirates don’t get much time to hold practice during the regular season, which means the six pre-season practices are very important.
“As for the pre-practices, my veterans are focused on reading lane conditions and making adjustments to their game in order to maximize their scores,” Faltz said. “They work on spares in an attempt to have games without any “open” frames.”
“As for my novices, they focus to bowl as a sport. In addition to learning competition rules and etiquette, we focus on basic lane approaches, reading marks, and ball release.”
Faltz stressed that the major goal of the bowling season is learning to compete as a team while also having fun.
“Most of all, we emphasize the sense of team play and having fun.”
Important Dates:
January 8: NJSIAA State Tournament Cutoff Date
January 18: Snowball Classic at Laurel Lanes in Maple Shade
February 4: BCSL Tournament at Laurel Lanes in Maple Shade
February 6: Girls Sectional Tournament at Laurel Lanes in Maple Shade
February 12: Girls Team Finals at Carolier Lanes in North Brunswick
February 13: Boys Sectional Tournament at Brunswick Zone in Deptford
February 17: Boys and Girls Individual State Finals at Carolier Lanes in North Brunswick
February 19: Boys Team Finals at Carolier Lanes in North Brunswick
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