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Sayville's Emma Clark is a regular on the boys bowling...

Sayville's Emma Clark is a regular on the boys bowling team, averaging 192. Credit: Daniel De Mato

From their set-up to their approach to their release of the ball, Connetquot’s Anna Polcini and Sayville’s Emma Clark couldn’t execute a bowling shot more differently.

Polcini’s motion is silky smooth and nuanced. The junior brings the ball to her face, blows on it — possibly even kisses it — and then glides through a precise lefthanded delivery. Clark’s is athletic and powerful. The sophomore picks up the ball eager to start, generates velocity with a deep backswing and finishes with a long follow-through.

They do, however, have one very big thing in common: The two young girls rank among the better performers in Suffolk boys bowling.

Clark is the anchor for the rebuilding Golden Flashes, bowling last in the five-person lineup and averaging 192. Polcini is up fourth for the Thunderbirds, the League II regular- season champ, and averages 205. Both attend schools that have no girls bowling program and so instead compete on their boys’ teams. And they are not alone. When the schools faced each other at Bowlero in Sayville on Tuesday, four of the 10 starters were girls and in the final game five of the 10 players were girls.

Sisters Nora and Erin O’Donnell join Clark as Sayville starters. Angelica Polcini, Anna’s sister, is part of a rotation of bowlers that make up the back of the Connetquot lineup.

“This shows that girls have the same capabilities as boys and what it takes to compete against them,” Anna Polcini said. “Strength plays a role in bowling because the faster you throw the ball, the more forceful the impact. There’s a greater chance of knocking pins down. But you can make up for that with placement and accuracy. We can knock down the pins as well as they can.”

“I like the idea of competing against boys because there’s a psychological [component] that pushes you,” Clark said. “Having three girls [starting] shows we have all the potential that the boys have.”

Connetquot's Angelica Polcini warms up prior to the start of...

Connetquot's Angelica Polcini warms up prior to the start of a boys bowling match between Sayville and Connetquot at Sayville AMF lanes on Tuesday. Credit: Daniel De Mato

Girls competing in boys bowling isn’t entirely rare on Long Island because many schools have only one team. But it was problematic until this year because state rules didn’t permit girls to compete in intersectional boys team competitions. If a boys team that included girls reached the state tournament, the girls were not eligible to bowl in it. And they were not eligible to make the county all-star teams and participate in those state-wide competitions.

Those rules were changed to give the girls eligibility in both for this season. And the girls who bowl on boys teams could earn spots on the girls county all-star teams that always have been chosen from members of girls bowling teams.

“We went to our school [administration] and asked them to field a girls bowling team last year,” Sayville sophomore Nora O’Donnell said. “We were being excluded and wanted the right to be able to compete at the highest level in the state. This rule change makes things different.”

Not everything is different, Sayville freshman Erin O’Donnell pointed out.

From left, Sayville's starting five bowlers Noah Horak, Emma Clark,...

From left, Sayville's starting five bowlers Noah Horak, Emma Clark, Nora O'Donnell, Erin O'Donnell and Owen Ifferte pose for a photo prior to the start of a boys bowling match between Sayville and Connetquot at Sayville AMF lanes on Tuesday. Credit: Daniel De Mato

“There are college programs that give scholarships, but it’s hard for girls on a boys bowling team,” she said. “Men’s team coaches come to [scout] boys bowling. Women’s team coaches come to [scout] girls bowling. Because we bowl on a boys team, we’re not in front of the coaches we need to be.”

For Clark, this issue is one that matters.

“I would like to get the opportunity to be looked at by college coaches and I would like the chance to earn a scholarship to college,” Clark said. “I see myself eventually going to a school with a women’s bowling team and I want to compete on one. It would help if there was a way for them to see me.”

Girls in boys bowling has been around for many years. And the attitude of the boys competing against the girls is quite evolved these days. Anna Polcini said, “I feel like the boys on my team and sometimes the boys on the other teams are rooting for us to do well.”

Angelica Pucini, a freshman, added, “The boys on our team treat us exactly the same, so it really doesn’t feel like we’re doing something different.”

From left, Connetquot's starting bowlers Tyler Goldofski, Brian Esposito, Joe...

From left, Connetquot's starting bowlers Tyler Goldofski, Brian Esposito, Joe Esposito, Kyle Zere and Anna Polcini pose for a photo prior to the start of a boys bowling match between Sayville and Connetquot at Sayville AMF lanes on Tuesday. Credit: Daniel De Mato

The sport, however, is not entirely rid of sexist attitudes.

“In a way, it makes it more fun when they look at us when we show up to a match and think they are going to be better,” Nora O’Donnell said. “They think we’re going to throw it weak. They think we’re going to be cheering. Most boys are nice and respectful but once in a while you get one who is like that.

“I don’t see a reason they should be better than me and I don’t expect then to be better than me.”

That these girls are competing and succeeding in a boys sport against the national tableau of women seeking and assuming positions of power in government and business is not lost on them.

“Men get a lot of credit for everything in our society, but maybe now women will get more,” Angelica Polcini said. “It sort of feels good that we’re doing well in a boys sport right now.”

Added Erin O’Donnell: “For a long time there’s been this thing about boys being better. Now women are taking their place as equals. It’s kind of like what we have here in bowling: we are being treated as equals because we are equals. But I guess if everyone could see that, it wouldn’t be a story.”

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