Pittsfield team wields early hammer> Morrison helps Maine Heat rally from early loss to familiar squad

BREWER – Here’s a guarantee. Within 20 seconds of walking into the Bangor-Brewer Lanes during the World Candlepin Team Championship you will hear the word “hammer” used in some context.

There are a variety of uses of the word but the most commonly heard refrain is, “OK (fill in your favorite bowler’s name here). Time for the hammer.”

That’s the individual hammer, a strike. The team hammer is another matter. The team hammer comes in the form of domination and the Maine team holding the largest hammer Monday in the first day of team competition was Pittsfield Bowling Center. The team picked up 22 of a possible 24 points to finish the day in second place in the 12-team Varney GMC Division, two games behind front runners Bowlarama of Nova Scotia who were a perfect 24-0 on the day.

Pittsfield’s start had Maine Heat’s Charlie Milan III shaking his head in disbelief.

Maine Heat is generally considered to be the top Maine entrant in the tournament. And the tournament did not start out well for them.

“We had a surprise this morning,” Milan said. “We got beat by a pickup team that I helped put together.”

Pittsfield is indeed a pickup team that came together when one of the Canadian teams had to drop out of the 24-team tournament. Milan turned to Skowhegan’s Scott Sirois.

“Charlie asked me to put a team together and he helped me find five guys.”

Pittsfield repaid Milan’s assistance by taking six of a possible eight points from Maine Heat in the morning session. Teams bowl three strings in each match, with each string worth two points to the winner and an additional two points awarded for total pin count.

“I feel bad that we had to beat them but I’m happy with the win,” Sirois said.

Pittsfield would follow the win over Maine Heat with wins over Halifax Glass (Mass.) and New Waterford Fat Boys, one of 11 Canadians teams in the tournament.

Maine Heat bounced back after their morning “surprise” by also sweeping the Fat Boys and then taking eight points in a nip-and-tuck affair with Lewis Auto Sales of Bangor.

“The Maine teams really gear up for us,” Maine Heat captain James Milan said. “Especially teams like Lewis Auto because they know us so well. We all bowl together here.”

The first string of the match came down to the final frame with Elwin “Elbow” Dority of Bangor and Lewis Auto Sales, who had put together strikes in the sixth, seventh and eighth frames, in a duel with Shawn Morrison of Orrington, the 20-year-old wunderkind of the sport.

Maine Heat’s Jerry Scott had made a prophetic statement about Morrison prior to the start of the string.

“Shawn has never been in this position before. He’s bowling anchor for us and nobody starts off as a good anchor. He can do it but what he needs is for the match to come down to him and for him to win it. Once that happens he won’t have a problem,” Scott said.

Morrison took advantage of his chance at winning a string for his team with a spare in the ninth frame and enough count to give Maine Heat a 600-598 win.

But Dority had a good reason not to feel too upset about the loss.

“My stepson right here,” Dority said, pointing at Morrison. “He’s one tough bowler.”

Maine Heat’s 18-6 record was good for third place in the division.

Vacationland Bowling Center of Saco went 20-4 on the day to take the top position of the Holiday Inn Division.

Chris Sargent of Bradford, Mass. and Team USA had the hammer down for the high single string count of the day with a 213 that included five consecutive strikes. The world record single-string score is 245 rolled by Ralph Semb of Erving, Mass.