Bowling is a passion for Upper Moreland girls

The momentum had been building for the Upper Moreland girls bowling team.

And for good reason. The top five bowlers in the varsity rotation made bowling a year-round passion. Bowling on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Bowling in the summer.

The payoff came during the 2011-12 high school bowling season, when the Golden Bears went 51-15 and captured the Suburban One League Continental Conference championship.

“We all worked really hard,” junior Britny Kabic said. “We’re in a Saturday morning league. We bowl on Sundays.

“It’s not one person. I don’t think anyone was surprised (about winning the league championship) because of all the hard work we put in.”

Kabic, senior Brielle Erb, senior twin sisters Stephanie and Beckie Lamb, as well as junior Tracey Tardif, were the top five for coach Dale Simonsen.

Junior Kim Searles saw action as well.

They’re all back and they come back with another summer of bowling under their belts, as well as plenty of weekends on the lanes.

And the girls from Upper Moreland are looking to keep rolling along.

“It’s going to be different,” Erb said. “Now that we won it and we didn’t lose anyone, everyone is going to be coming after us. We need to work hard and keep focused.”

And it certainly won’t be easy for the Golden Bears. Pennridge will be tough, especially since junior Jenn Stevens is coming off a season in which her league average (200) was 22 pins better than that of anyone else.

Norristown is always tough, and the Eagles are expected to be right there as well.

“It definitely puts some kind of pressure on us,” Kabic said, “because we want to win it again. But we know there are a lot of good bowlers out there, and just because we’ve gotten better (since last year) doesn’t mean others haven’t. We’re just going to have to step up our game.”

Upper Moreland’s strength is that it has a roster of bowlers who are consistent. Kabic, Erb, Tardif and Beckie Lamb were within seven points of each other in league average.

Kabic, who averaged 163, had the top average on the team, but it was only eighth-best in the conference.

“We bowl in the hardest house,” Simonsen said of Willow Grove’s Thunderbird Lanes. “Our team averages will never be high.

“If we bowled in a different house, all of them would be bowling 10-15 pins higher. They win at home with the lower scores and, when they go on the road, they win and bowl higher scores.

“It’s not about high averages. We know we’re never going to have them.”

And that’s just fine with this group, because it’s not about individual accomplishment or bragging rights or anything like that.

“This season, we’ll try to focus and try to do what we’re capable of,” Erb said, “and hopefully everything falls into place.”

Joe Jones: 215-949-4215;

e-mail, jjones@phillyBurbs.com

Twitter: @courierjj.

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