Area bowling teams try to find right formula for team chemistry

ROCKFORD — Alex Sommer bowls leadoff for Guilford’s defending state champions and Cory Lenz mans the anchor spot.

But Matt Anderson, Daltin Kafka and Trustin Givens, who bowl second, third and fourth, are just as important.

Lenz struck out in the 10th frame to give the Vikings a dramatic 397-392 win over Harlem in the Harlem Invitational last month, but Guilford needed all five bowlers to make every shot count to win that title.

“Every lineup spot is critical,” Guilford coach Brad Sommer said. “Every bowler is just as important as the anchor, lead off or middle man, because at the end of the day, you add up all five scores and it determines where you place in a tournament.”

But if all the bowlers carry equal importance, how do coaches decide who to bowl where? Do they put their best bowlers at leadoff and anchor, or do they try to matchup head-to-head with their opponents?

“Our opponents lineup is never a consideration,” said Oregon coach Al Nordman, whose team won the NIBC last year. “I preach we bowl against the lane conditions and the pins — the fact that someone else is on the pair of lanes is irrelevant. Occasionally, in conference matches we split 3-3 on a pair. I will put kids together (from the other team) who have bowled together for years, just because they like to bowl together — but it is never about match ups.”

Conference matches feature two lead off bowlers and two anchors on two pairs of lanes versus five bowlers on one pair in a tournament.

Belvidere coach David Ellingson also thinks it’s not about an opponents’ lineup.

“My lineup up is prepared before any match, whether it is a conference match, with six persons, or it is a five-man tournament,” he said. “I don’t let my opponents’ lineup affect mine. Technically, the lanes are our opponent and we attack them as a team.”

That’s why coaches and bowlers feel team chemistry is vital in creating a lineup that stays consistent throughout a bowling season.

“Chemistry of your team in my opinion is more important than ability,” said Harlem girls coach Jim Heathscott, who has won four state bowling titles with the Huskies. “If your team has fun and enjoys bowling together, I believe the scores will be better than with a team that is full of talent but hates each other.

“It is hard to make a change to your lineup in bowling if the individuals are only there for themselves, so you have to get your team to believe in the team aspect. If not, it is difficult to make changes because they are out for themselves.”

In choosing where to place certain people, most coaches have a formula.

Typically, the leadoff bowler is a team’s best spare shooter. That gives a team a good start and fires up the team, while the No. 2 and No. 3 bowlers would be a team’s more average, but steady, bowlers. The fourth bowler is typically the second- or third-best player on the team.

Some teams, though, choose to put their two best bowlers in the fourth and anchor positions because they are the ones that will have the pressure put on them when the game is on the line. That anchor bowler feeds off the fourth bowler and is typically the best average bowler on the team.

Lenz has bowled the anchor position for the last 2 years for the Vikings.

“My brother Sam was an anchor all four years,” Lenz said. “He gave me a lot of advice about it when it came to pressure situations. I’ve learned I can’t get upset with every shot. I have to make sure the team chemistry stays up because there was one tournament we bowled at and we did terrible and the whole team was down the whole day.”

Givens who moved from third to now fourth position this year, welcomes bowling in front of Lenz.

“I like going to fourth,” he said. “We keep it going. When it gets down to me and him, we just have to take it one shot at a time to keep it going and finish it with a strong game.”

Some coaches use their top bowler at leadoff. That’s what East coach Russ Hunter did with Matt McCurry most of his prep career.

“He had been there for three years, but we moved him to anchor (this year) because he provides us the best chance for stringing strikes,” Hunter said.

Over the past two seasons, Taylor Hoppe has moved from third to fourth to now anchor on Jefferson’s girls team.

“It (the anchor) is so much fun because you get to see what everybody else has done and you know exactly whether you need to strike or get a spare,” Hoppe said after Guilford won Tuesday’s Boylan Invitational, which consisted of 32 Baker games.

Many tournaments feature the Baker format, where five bowlers bowl two frames for a total of 10 frames. In the Baker format, the leadoff bowler rolls in the first and sixth frame, the second bowler throws the second and seventh frames and so on.

“If we are playing Baker format, the leadoff position is double critical as it gets us started and it follows our best bowler, who will more times than not strike giving us the best chance of stringing strikes,” Nordman said.

There are times when bowlers are not hitting on all cylinders and coaches have to decide whether to leave that person in or not.

“When you have several good bowlers, you have the advantage of changing lineups,” Hunter said. “In some tournaments you can change the positions based on whoever has the hot hand for that day. But the bottom line is that everybody must support each other no matter where they are in the lineup. That is called true team chemistry.”

Staff writer Brenda Young can be reached at 815-987-1388 or byoung@rrstar.com.