DATE: Friday, July 4, 1997                  TAG: 9707020237

SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS     PAGE: 08   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: STAFF REPORT

                                            LENGTH:   43 lines

LOCAL YOUTH BOWLING TEAM ROLLS INTO A NATIONAL TITLE

The Victory Lanes Bantom team didn't have high expectations when it arrived at the National Duckpins Youth Championships in Hagerstown, Md. several weeks ago.

A practice round at Long Meadow Bowl didn't do much to raise them, either.

``The kids were terrible in practice,'' said Raymond Askew, coach of the team and the youth bowling director at Victory Lanes. ``They couldn't seem to hold wood, they left pins standing, they weren't making their marks . . .

``We went there just hoping to have a good time, but after the practice, I didn't know what to expect.''

He certainly didn't expect a national title. But that's just what the team of 11- and 12-year olds from Portsmouth and Chesapeake did.

With Portsmouth's Ashley Johnson leading the way, the five-person Victory Lanes squad nipped a team from Connecticut by just five pins to win the championship. Victory Lanes toppled 2,160 pins in the three-game set to 2,155 for the runners-up. It was the third Youth title in the last 15 years for a team from Victory Lanes.

Johnson, who posted the high individual score of the Bantom competition (129), finished with a 341 total. Brittany Long of Chesapeake had a 325; Brianna Vain of Portsmouth bowled 319; Don Ferguson of Portsmouth, 300; and Brian Kindley of Chesapeake 290.

Askew isn't sure exactly what got into the team between the practice round and the championship round.

``All I know is I spent a lot of time trying to tell them we didn't come here for the practice, we came here for the championships, so don't worry about the practice,'' he said. ``None of them bowled great, but they all bowled good. And it was enough to win.''

They had to come from behind to do it, too.

``The kids made seven marks in the last three frames to overtake the Connecticut team,'' said Askew.

The Bantom team wasn't the only Victory Lanes entry to make its mark. The Junior (13-15) team finished fourth.

Members of the Bantom team were: Adam Perez and Mary Gibson of Chesapeake and Erica Stone, Blake Ellsworth and Jason Marriner of Portsmouth. Perez had the high individual game for the tournament (152).

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