This season has proved to be a big jump for the Edison High girls bowling team. Their 12–7 record has been the team’s highest since the 2017-2018 season, where the Eagles had a 12–2 record. This year, the girls bowling team participated in the GMC tournament, securing two victories and just one defeat. Despite their loss in the semifinals, the girls bowling team has demonstrated substantial improvement from their previous years.
Edison Defeats North Brunswick in First Round
The girls started off their first match in the GMC tournament by defeating North Brunswick in two games.
In the first game, Edison scored 759 pins compared to North Brunswick’s 705. Although this game was led by the opposition’s Alexis Park ‘25 with a score of 166 pins, the Lady Eagles still delivered notable performances, ultimately securing the first game for Edison. Lorelai Hagens ‘24 led the Eagles to victory in this game with 144 pins, closely followed by Emily Leon ‘27, who knocked down 138 pins.
The second game was a blowout, with the Eagles knocking down 833 pins compared to North Brunswick’s 745. The effort was led by Leon, who knocked down a season-high 214 pins. Cadence Grimes was the lead scorer for North Brunswick with 184 pins.
“That was an especially important win for our team because it was our third time facing our divisional opponent, and we had split the season series with them up until that point,” said Coach Mr. James Napoli.
Eagles Emerge Victorious in Quarterfinals against Colonia
Following their initial victory, the Eagles continued their streak with a win against a more formidable opponent, Colonia.
Colonia started off strong with a win in the first game, scoring 1,072 pins against the Eagles’ 897 pins. This win was led by Colonia’s Reyna Martinez ‘26 and Kayla Young ‘25, who knocked down 215 pins and 211 pins, respectively. Despite the loss, there were some highlight contributions from Edison, including 201 pins knocked down by Peyton Stone ‘26 and Leon’s 166 pins.
Undeterred by their loss in the first game, the Eagles won the next one, scoring 881 pins against North Brunswick’s 836 pins. The performances of all the Lady Eagles added up, leading to Edison’s first win of the match. The most notable performances from Edison were Sara Nasrullah ‘25, Stone, and Leon who scored 169 pins, 178 pins, and 176 pins, respectively.
In the last game of the match, Edison built upon their confidence from their previous games to defeat the skilled opposition. The game was incredibly close, but the Eagles managed to scrape out a victory, knocking down 863 pins to Colonia’s 862. The close game saw many significant contributions, including a team-high 177 pins from Stone. She was closely followed by Nasrullah who put up a score of 164 pins. With this win, the Eagles would advance to the semifinals against the eventual winners of the entire tournament, Woodbridge.
“All year, we stress to our athletes that every shot and every pin matters, so it’s incredibly rewarding to see our ladies take that mentality to heart and come out on the winning end of a close match as an underdog,” said Napoli.
Girl’s Bowling Suffers Loss Against Woodbridge in Semifinals
Against Woodbridge, Edison ended up losing the first game with 796 pins compared to the opponents’ 903 pins. The strong performance from Woodbridge was led by Kayla Parrinello ‘25 who knocked down 191 pins for the victory. Stone, Nasrullah, and Leon would all perform well in the loss, scoring 158, 149, and 148 pins, respectively.
In the next game, the Eagles would bounce back to beat the Woodbridge Barrons 870 pins to 801, with Stone leading the effort, knocking down a team-high 187 pins. Edison’s Pooja Katara ‘24 followed Stone, scoring 172 pins in the win. This all led to a third game which would be very crucial in deciding the outcome of the match.
While the Eagles, led by Stone’s 180 scored pins, put in a solid effort, Woodbridge dominated with a 979–861 victory. Isabella Ramos ‘25 scored a team-high 204 pins for the Barrons, and Rosemarie Leonard ‘24 knocked down 192 pins. While Edison would be a competitive matchup, showing their growth over the past season, Woodbridge would eventually pull out with the victory in the match, knocking down a total of 2,683 pins compared to the Eagles’ 2,527.
“Although we lost the match, our ladies put up a valiant effort against Woodbridge as they forced a third game in the match,” said Napoli. “In fact, we were the only team to take a game from Woodbridge throughout their entire tournament run to the championship. Our ladies bowled above our team average in all three games, and overall, they had a strong showing against great opponents throughout the entire tournament.”
At the beginning of the season, the girls bowling team started off with a 2–4 record in their first six games. However, they would bounce back, capping the season off with a strong 8–2 record and going 2–1 in the GMC tournament. Over the season, Katara knocked down a team-high total of 7,622 pins, while Stone had a team-high 148.13 pins knocked per game average.
