Salem Tech girls bowlers go into the new week still glowing from first win in program history

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

WOODSTOWN – Matt DiTizio loves it when a plan comes together.

After two years laying the foundation for the bowling program at Salem Tech, DiTizio and assistant coach Mark Kasubinski came into the preseason this year with the priority of building up the girls team.

They were able to put a full boys team together right away, but the girls have been a slow grow. They did have bowlers to put on the lanes, but not enough for a complete five-man lineup. Now, things are starting to “come together” for them and they’re making strides one step at a time.

You might have noticed a little different swagger in the Tech girls as they walked around school this past week.

That’s because they’ve been riding the momentum of the first win in their program’s history, a 3-1 win over Lindenwold last time out at Wood Lanes.

“Thing are starting to come together,” DiTizio said. “They’ve had some close moments. But I don’t think they really fully understand the significance of it. That’s the first one we’ve had of hopefully many wins and they did it. They’ve been learning and improving together and that’s the big step in the right direction as far as I’m concerned.”

The boys team had enjoyed some success – they won four matches last year and are 2-2-2 this season – but the girls, with their limited lineup, had lost 21 straight matches since their inception in 2021-22. They hadn’t won a game until they evened their match with a 532 against Salem in mid-December.

“I think they knew it was coming after that,” DiTizio said.

They split the first two games with Lindenwold – winning the first 531-505 and losing second 634-538 – then won the third game 634-535 and took the overall point 1703-1601.

Lexi Cagle, the Chargers’ lone senior, led the way with the match’s high game – a career-best 177 in Game 3 – and high series (397). She averages 125.4. Naomi Hess and Casey Zaluske both averaged 117 for the match.

It was said they were really excited for the morning announcements the next day at school to hear their results broadcast to their classmates.

“To be truly honest with you, both Coach Matt and myself were actually more head over heels than they were,” said Kasubinski, who oversees the girls team. “They almost took it in stride, very matter of factly. They were obviously excited and happy, especially the new girls, they got a real kick out of it. Coach and I were over the moon about it and we’re like ‘Girls, you just made history,’ and they were like, ‘Yeah, we know. That’s cool.’

“It was very understated, but you could tell all the things that we’ve been preaching at them and telling them – this is going to happen, once you get a full team we’re going to be able to compete, we’re going to win game, we’re going to win matches – (was kicking in). I think they realized all that stuff we’ve been telling them since the preseason is not just lip service. They were obviously very satisfied, very happy to make that accomplishment and be part of history at Salem Tech.”

And now they have a couple tall orders coming up. They go to Hammonton Tuesday and host Clayton at Wood Lanes Thursday. Both opponents are currently 5-1 and they lost to Clayton with only four bowlers earlier this year, but the Chargers go into the matches knowing what winning feels like.

“I think getting a taste of that and seeing that it’s not just a myth that we can go out there and win matches, they’re going to ramp up their expectations for themselves because they know what they’re capable of, they’ve seen what they can accomplish,” Kasubinski said. “To get that first taste of winning a match and knowing when we are at full strength, when we do have a full team, when we do bowl well, we can go out there and go shoulder to shoulder with other teams in our division or in our conference, in the region, and have positive results. 

“And I think if they don’t meet those expectations they’re going to be very critical of themselves. Knowing how our young ladies are, they take these things seriously.”

Tri-County Conference Bowling

CLASSIC BOYS	ALL	DIV	CLASSIC GIRLS	ALL	DIV
Clayton	5-0-1	4-0	Gloucester	5-0	4-0
Gloucester	3-1-1	2-1-1	Clayton	5-1	3-1
Salem Tech	2-2-2	1-1-2	Salem	1-3	1-2
Lindenwold	0-3-1	0-2-1	Salem Tech	1-5	1-3
Salem	1-3	0-3	Lindenwold	0-4	0-3