The team goes down fighting their best.

For the first elimination match, the team had to go up against the number two seed, Brown High School, and they ended up losing. 

They lost the first elimination match, against Daviess County High School, at the Unified State Tournament; therefore, we didn’t advance past the first round. The same thing happened at the state tournament, when we lost our first round, against Brown High School. All bowlers, from coaches and seniors, to beginners and returners, are all happy with how the team has done this season. 

For the Unified State tournament, you partner up a unified bowler, with a bowler from the bowling team. The partner bowls the odd frames, and the Unified bowler bowls the even frames. At the Unified State Tournament, we had sophomore Austin Hale and junior Zachary Compton. After they won the Unified Regionals Tournament, we had a guaranteed spot in the state tournament. 

At the tournament, there were 15 schools, and here they are, in order of what number they were seeded after the qualifying game: Madison Central High School, Highlands High School, Daviess County High School, Pendleton County High School, Beechwood High School, Barren County High School, Great Crossing High School, Doss High School, Meade County (Whitaker/Fuqua), Scott County High School, Meade County (Johnson/Burke), Lincoln County High School, Dixie Heights High School and Bullitt East High School. We were seeded fifteenth, tying with the people in the 14 spot, with an overall score, between Hale and Compton, of 94. “Well, when you don’t do what you expect to do, or want to do, it’s disappointing. So, I felt like that, possibly, we had a chance to move through, but it’s competition, and people handle competition different. I’m proud of Zach and Austin, and David and Dylan, but especially Zach and Austin, for getting here, and being able to participate; that’s huge, and I’m very proud of them being able to do that,” said Bowling Coach Lenny Raley, “Well, main thing is, we were able to participate. We didn’t advance, so I guess you could say that was a little disappointing, because I wanted to see them advance, to get to the top eight, and it just didn’t happen. So, again, I’m proud of them. I know I’m sounding disappointed, but, you know, I’m a coach that wants to see kids be successful, but we’re proud of Zach and Austin for doing what they did.”

Beechwood High School is the team that won the whole tournament. They were eliminated in the first round, after going off against the number three seed there, Daviess County. “It (the Unified state tournament) definitely, definitely, could’ve gone better. I don’t know what happened. Both lanes played completely differently than what was expected. I felt that I threw everything to perfection, but it either reacted too much, or not enough,” said Hale, “We all thought we did good, but we guess it wasn’t good enough. The team could have made more spares; that’s about it, and so could I. So, we were all on the struggle bus.”

With junior Adam Young scored a 177, freshman Katie Olds scored a 123, freshman David Scholtz scored a 130, senior Dylan Young scored a 169, Hale scored a 178, eighth-grader Jake Shofner scored a 141, junior Gavin Coffman scored a 170, and senior Logan Parrish scored a 129, for an overall score of 965, Bullitt East was seeded 15 out of 16 schools. “Well, unfortunately, we were the fifteenth score, out of 16. So, that put us against a high seed, which was Brown, the number two seed going into the elimination games,” said Raley. After being seeded, we were placed against Brown High School, with all the other schools there, being: Daviess County High School, (J. Graham) Brown High School, Lafayette High School, Pendleton County High School, Covington Catholic High School, Simon Kenton High School, South Warren High School, Boyle County High School, Bourbon County Middle School, East Jessamine High School, Ballard High School, North Bullitt High School, Taylor County High School, Campbellsville High School, Bullitt East High School and Ryle High School. (That was in order of the seeding, after the qualifying game.) Ballard High School is the team that won the overall state tournament.

The first bakers game was won, with a score of 194-171. The second bakers game was a loss, with a score of 170-160. The third bakers game was a tie, the second tie of the season, with the first tie being in the regionals tournament, with 204-204. The fourth bakers game was a win, with the score of 192-174. The fifth bakers was 172-143, for Brown. Then, we had to go up for a roll off, which was going to be a full sixth bakers game, and it was a loss, with a score of 220-156. “I think we won the first game, if I remember correctly; so, that gave us some confidence, that things were going to start turning our way. First game, we won 194-171; 194 is a great score. Second game, we came back a little off; they beat us by ten pins. So, that made it one to one. Third game, we were behind, but came on strong, and we tied actually, 204-204. The fourth game we came out, even stronger, as far as handling the pressure; we won that game, 192-174. So, now, we only needed one to advance, but then Brown kind of took a stand, and we did not bowl very well that fifth game. So, they tied the series, 172-143, was the score. And so, the rule was to bowl a sixth game, and they just buried us; 220-156. So, we actually had our chances; I thought the door was open several times, and we just couldn’t walk through it strong enough,” said Raley.

Other than making Brown actually having to put up a fight, none of the bowlers see this as a very big highlight, other than the fact that they just made it to state. “Honestly, the only highlight would probably be, just the fact, we got to state, and had fun with what we could do,” said Dylan Young. Parrish doesn’t see very many highlights, but he believes that a couple of the bowlers had good qualifying games, and that the team had a couple good bakers games.

Although we didn’t get to advance past the first elimination match, Dylan Young is happy with how the state tournament went, and he’s proud of his overall team. “We, as a team, did our best, on what we could do. Yeah, I know as well as anyone, we could have done better, but I’m happy with what we could do. We’ve gotten further, than what anyone else would have ever thought we could have gotten to,” said Dylan Young. 

Parrish just believes that they struggled a little bit, and just, sadly, went home early. “I’d say I’m disappointed on how it went. It was great getting there, but we just didn’t bowl our best, and went home early,” said Parrish, “We struggled. Our qualifying round wasn’t good, and we just couldn’t put it all together, for the bakers match.”

Raley is going to miss the seniors leaving this year (Dylan Young and Parrish), but they’re just going to have to try hard to replace them. “Yeah, absolutely. I thought they’ve matured. They’re kind of two different kinds of bowlers. Logan doesn’t get emotional, Dylan gets a little bit emotional, but in a good way. Both of those guys were very supportive of our other kids, and were tremendous, as far as being a successful senior leader. So, yeah, they’re going to be sorely missed, but I’m pretty sure they’re going to be successful in life, and that’s the main thing: that they can learn lessons from bowling, to help them further, and better themselves in the game of life. And so, it will be hard to replace them, but we’re just going to have to work hard to do that,” said Raley. 

Hale is a sophomore this year, and is going to be returning to the bowling team, as a junior, next year. Hale believes that he’s going to be even better next year, alongside the team, but he is happy with how he, and the team, did this year. “I am 100% going to push myself, next season, to make it to singles (the singles regionals tournament). No one is going to stop me. I am also going to push myself harder, to be a big team player,” said Hale, “I am completely lost for words on how our team performed (this year). So many of our players have done phenomenal performances. Everyone has gotten better with each match, and tournament that passed. I believe our 2020-2021 season will be just as good as this one. Sucks that we are losing Dylan and Logan though.” 

Dylan Young is a senior, and he will not be returning next year, as a bowler. Dylan Young is very happy, and some would say ecstatic, with how the team did this year, with all the accomplishments that the team accomplished. “I am really happy with our season. We went to the city tournament and bowled a perfect game of a 300, in a bakers format, won the North Bullitt tournament, and lastly, we accomplished finishing first in the regional tournament,” said Dylan Young, “On a scale of one to ten, I’m at a 14, with how good we did this season. This was the best season, for me, at least, and is a good season to go out on, with this being my last, and final year.” Dylan Young is wanting to return, next year, though, as a person helping the bowling team, and as a fan. 

Dylan Young does feel sad that he will never bowl with his team again, but although he won’t ever be able to bowl with this team again, he does want to take bowling as a professional career, in the future. “Honestly, it’s really sad, because I will know, I won’t be able to bowl with my team. My team is like a family to me, and they all mean so much to me. I will always remember this team,” said Dylan Young, “My future plans, bowing-wise, is to improve, and to hopefully go pro, and make it somewhere. My other plans are to finish building my truck, and get going in the automotive/electrical industry, and to live a happy, and good life.” Dylan Young is “darn happy” with his past four years on the bowling team, because it built it up to the person he is today, and he is ending his high school bowling career today. 

If Dylan Young had the chance to, he would definitely not go back, and redo anything of this past season, or his high school bowling career. “I honestly wouldn’t change, with how we did this season. Even though we didn’t get to win, and be state champs; we still had a lot of other great accomplishments, that will always stick around,” said Dylan Young.

Parrish is also a senior, and he will also not be returning next year, as a bowler. He does feel sad that he will never be able to bowl under the name of one of our bowlers again, but he does plan on bowling in college. “Yeah, it’s sad (that this his last year). I’ve only been here two years, but I’ve become friends with everyone, and now, I won’t get to bowl with this great team anymore,” said Parrish, “The plan is to attend either, Morehead St. University, or the University of Louisville, for engineering, and hopefully bowl on the team at either school.”

Parrish is extremely happy with how they did this year, with all the accomplishments that the team accomplished. “I’m extremely happy with how the team did this year. We bowled a 300, won our first ever tournament, and then won regionals,” said Parrish, “I’m pretty happy with how everything’s gone. I’ve improved a lot, and accomplished a lot with this team.” Parrish feels “super proud of all that we’ve (they’ve) accomplished.” He believes that they took a big step up from last year. 

If Parrish had the chance to, he would go back, and join the bowling team his freshman year. Although, for this season, the only thing that Parrish thinks he would change, is how he performed at the state tournament. “If I could go back, I would join the team in my freshman year. I wish I had gotten into bowling, a lot sooner,” said Parrish, “The only thing I would change is how I performed at state. Everything leading up to that, was amazing, even if the scores didn’t show it.”

Parrish would like to thank a few people, before he says goodbye to the bowling team, of Bullitt East High School. “First, I’d like to thank my parents, and grandparents, for always supporting me, and taking me to all the meets, and events. As for the whole team, I’d like to thank all of the bowlers, who were there before me, who welcomed me, and helped me improve over the last two years. Also, a big thanks to everyone else’s parents, and grandparents, for being there to cheer us on, even when we were doing bad. Finally, thanks to the coach, for picking up the opening, and just giving us a chance to go out there, and bowl,” said Parrish. 

Dylan Young, like Parrish, wants to thank a few people, as well, before he says goodbye to his four-year long bowling high school career. “I would like to thank everyone on my team, my friends and family, my girlfriend (Morgan), and Brodie, for the support. They all have pushed me to better myself, each and everyday, into who I am today. I appreciate each and everyone, who has supported me, and my team. We wouldn’t have gotten to where we were, if it wasn’t for them,” said Dylan Young.