Buffalo Grove's Savage rolls 300 game

In 40-plus years of Mid-Suburban League girls bowling, there had been only six 300 games thrown until the gem last week by Karsyn Burgess of Wheeling put the total at 7.

Now, make it 8.

Buffalo Grove junior Joanne Savage stole the spotlight Wednesday, firing her first-ever 300 in the second game of her match against, of all teams, the Wildcats.

Savage put her name in the record books and capped an unprecedented week of MSL competition.

"Nobody deserves this more than Joanne," said BG junior varsity coach Chris Van Grondelle, who led the varsity Bison as well at Arlington Lanes. "I'm thrilled for her. She's a great kid and she's been working hard for a long time."

Staring down one more strike for the perfecto after hitting two in the 10th, Savage said she wasn't extremely nervous despite being on the verge on making history.

"I knew I had my whole team behind me," said Savage. "At that point I decided just to roll the final ball and whatever happened, happened. Luckily it was a perfect pocket shot.

"I had the support of teammates the whole way and that was the difference."

Savage's 682 series was the best in the MSL this year and led the Bison to a 9-0 victory over Wheeling.

"Joanne achieved the ultimate goal tonight," said Van Grondelle. "She said she was excited going in to the 10th frame, but from what I saw she was starting to get excited about the seventh frame on."

The junior actually strung together 17 consecutive strikes, a streak that began in the latter stages of her first game.

"I think I might have been more nervous than she was," added Van Grondelle. "I was picturing it (the 300) in my mind the whole game, and as I was writing my hand actually started shaking."

"After the final strike," said Savage, "it was like an explosion. Everyone was cheering for me."

Another conference junior, Angela Anzalone of Conant, put together a 605 series Wednesday in leading her team to a victory over Rolling Meadows and keeping the Cougars at the top of the MSL standings in a tightly-knit bunch that includes Hoffman Estates, Hersey, Prospect, Fremd and Schaumburg.

Anzalone, who has been a star since her freshman season, said it's "crazy" that she's already a junior.

"I don't want to grow up," joked Anzalone.

Victoria Domanski pitched in with a 644 series (233 game) for the Cougars, who along with their league rivals take a break until the next conference matchups early in January.

"We've been working hard on keeping a positive attitude and practicing picking up our spares," said Anzalone. "We're going to use the break to work on team bonding and get as much practice in as possible."

A 613 from Sarah Schwind led Schaumburg to a win over Hersey, while Monica Lopez (590) boosted Prospect to a victory over Fremd despite a 235 game from the Vikings' Becca Rutkowski.

Allur Magsino's 218 helped lead Hoffman to a pinfall of 2,783 and a win over Elk Grove, while a 229 game from Jessica Soskich gave a big assist to BG's victory.

And Savage, who also tallied a 203 game in her tremendous evening, said things might be a "little different" at school today.

"My friends," explained Savage, "said they're going to brag about me."