Double Trouble

Identical twins help Hoffman Estates High School girls team win state bowling championship

Opponents of the Hoffman Estates High School girls bowling team may have thought they were seeing double, but identical twins Natalie and Amanda Cortese and their teammates made use of every advantage to psych out the competition and emerge victorious at the 2006 Illinois High School Association championships February 11 at Cherry Bowl in Rockford, Ill.

It was a sweet victory for the Hoffman Estates girls, topping their 2005 second-place finish at the IHSA state event.

One look, two girls. Identical twins Natalie (seated) and Amanda Cortese, 15, are noticed for their bowling skills as well as their style.

Sophomores Natalie and Amanda, along with teammate Candice Whitecotton, a senior, racked up pinfall totals that propelled them into the list of the top 15 individual performers among the 128 girls competing in the state finals. (Candice was 10th with 2,401; Natalie was 11th with 2,396 and Amanda was 14th with 2,389.)

Rounding out Hoffman Estates' stellar performances were senior Mallory Haupert with 2,258 and junior Amanda Bein with 2,219. That brought the team to its winning 11,663 total, 171 pins ahead of second-place Collinsville.

All five team members, plus reserve player Bridget Crowley, are members of both the USBC Youth and USBC High School programs.

Natalie, who also is a member of the USBC Junior Gold program, set conference and statewide IHSA all-time records in December when she rolled an 802 series during high school competition at AMF Rolling Meadows in (you guessed it!) Rolling Meadows, Ill.

Her 265, 257 and 280 games that day may have been inspiration for her to move on to her next goal, a perfect game. Natalie didn't waste time – in January she rolled 238-300-208 for a 746 series, also at AMF Rolling Meadows.

When interviewed earlier this season by Chicago Sun-Times writer Mark Perlman, Natalie and Amanda made it clear that identical looks haven't hampered their individuality in life or in bowling, a sport they've played since they were 6.

"By 9 or 10, I was bowling with 16-and 17-year-olds and I broke 200 by the time I was 11," Natalie said. "I enjoyed it from the beginning and just stuck with it."

Amanda took a more casual approach to the game. "Basically I was just bowling for fun with kids my age, while my sister was more competitive with the older kids," she said. "But then around sixth grade I started to take it seriously."

According to Perlman's story, students at Hoffman Estates previously overlooked the sport of bowling. But after last year's second-place state victory, Amanda began to notice a difference in her classmates' reactions to her team.

"After last year, bowling means something at our school now," Amanda said. "People ask us about it all the time and kids are actually coming out to watch us."