Ram and Lady Ram bowlers drop 5 in a row but see more ups than downs in near future

December 11, 2024 at 11:23 p.m.

Members of the Port Chester Lady Rams bowling team, from left: Emily Garcia, Britney Larrosa, Sofia Greco and Elizabeth Campos. (Courtesy photo of Jeanine Maiolini)

No Port Chester team has more ups and downs than the bowling team—and not just because those bowling balls keep knocking down those pins in the alley so regularly in what amounts to constant alley-oops until it's game over. The early going has been rough for the Rams and Lady Rams so far because they have lost their opening five matches all in the same place—Bowlerland near Co-Op City in the Bronx.

The latest loss came against New Rochelle Monday (12/9). So they are still looking for their first lucky strikes leading to breaking into the win column.

But it isn't their fault. Because they play well. Just not often enough. Or long enough. And they do have to schlep down to the Bronx to practice and play twice a week. And they don't always have enough bowlers to field a complete team, which means they often must compete at least one player short, and that impacts their final scores.

Coach has explanation

None of which surprises veteran coach Jeanine Maiolini. And she has a simple explanation as to why the Ls keep coming even though she has two highly skilled players in captains Emily Garcia and Austin Nij and dependable performers in Isabella Molina and Tony Nievecela.

    Members of the Port Chester Rams bowling team, from left: Nazir Demera, Tony Nievecela, Austin Nij, Ben Garcia and Izeyah Fentress.
 Courtesy of Jeanine Maiolini   

"My hope for the team is for all the kids to show up, have fun and socialize with their friends," Maiolini said. "We do not have a super competitive bowling team. The kids are just looking for something fun to do a few days a week. My hope is that kids start coming out for the bowling team younger. It seems to be a trend that these kids come out to bowl in their junior/senior year and then they age out instead of bowling all four years of high school."

So Maiolini, who has already turned around a losing Lady Rams softball culture, is looking to do the same thing with bowling. She wants to reverse that losing trend by encouraging more younger players to come out and bowl for a varsity team that needs them.

Results are mixed

The results have been mixed so far. The Rams varsity bowling team now includes three freshmen (Evin Eski, Oscar Morales and Benjamin Garcia) and two sophomores (Izeyah Fentress and Gabriel Tellez) while the Lady Rams have just one sophomore in Molina and no freshmen.

That paucity of underclassmen usually leaves the team shorthanded because the Rams varsity revolves around seniors Nievecela and Nazir Demera and juniors Nij and Alejandro Mojica while the Lady Rams are mostly made up of upperclassmen like senior Kaitlyn Farias and juniors Britney Larrosa, Elizabeth Campos and Sofia Greco.

That is the nucleus of a team that has lost to Harrison (twice), Mamaroneck, Pelham and New Rochelle.

Nij bowled a high of 139 against New Ro, Nievecela hit 125, Fentress 122 and Garcia scored in the 80s. Emily Garcia rolled a high of 114, Larrosa hit 84 as did Greco and Campos. That's good, but not good enough, especially since the Lady Rams lacked a fifth scorer.

But Maiolini thinks her team will be better in their upcoming match Monday (12/16) at 3 p.m. against Yonkers at Bowlerland and their first W could come in that match. But what would really be a W for her is if more underclassmen start thinking about coming out for the team because that is the key to more ups than downs for Ram and Lady Ram bowling in the future.