Continuing the improvement.

With many new bowlers, such as freshman Justin Collins with a 191, or seventh-grader Emersyn Mattingly with a 136, they are definitely continuing improvement.

Jan. 11, they played against Pleasure Ridge Park (PRP) High School, at Fern Bowl. Jan. 13, they played against PRP High School, at Fern Bowl. The team plans to improve, with this being their first couple of games of the season.

They lost the game against PRP, with a score of 378-266, PRP.

In the first qualifying round for the bakers match of the bowling game, senior Austin Hale led the team with a 178, junior David Scholtz followed behind with a 169, senior Jackson Cox brought a 166 and junior Austin Graham brought a 153.

In the second qualifying round leading us into the baker’s match of the bowling game, senior Austin Hale led the team with a 234, junior David Scholtz followed behind with a 185, senior Jackson Cox brought a 140 and junior Austin Graham brought a 101.

The people who participated in the baker’s games were senior Austin Hale, junior David Scholtz, senior Jackson Cox, junior Austin Graham and freshman Justin Collins.

In the first baker’s match, Bullitt East lost with a score of 194-154. Then, Bullitt East lost in the second baker’s match with a score of 184-112.

Bowling Coach Lenny Raley was unable to make it to the PRP match, so the Coach of the Boys Golf team, Kyle Downs, covered the game for him. Although Raley did get the results from the game. Raley believes the game was not the best. “Well, I was not in attendance due to a doctor situation, but Kyle Downs was there, and I have the sheet. I’d hate to say it, but it was not a good day for Bullitt East. PRP took all nine scores. So, they defeated us,” Raley said, “I’m looking at individual scores. Some of the highlights were Austin Hale with a 178 and a 234. David Scholtz was 169 and 185. Justin Collins with a 191. Then, I’m just gonna highlight Zach Compton, our special unified athlete, bowled a 132, which is awesome for Zach. Then, a seventh grader, Emersyn Mattingly with 136.” Raley did notice a couple of highlights such as individual scores from the game that day.

Hale feels as if the PRP game went the best it could. “Today, I feel we did the best that we could. PRP is a hard team to beat. There’s a lot of ins and outs in the bowling world, and even that PRP couldn’t really figure it out. So, it was rough for everybody, but overall, we did pretty good. Everybody did their part,” Hale said, “Some highlights for me would be my first four strikes in the second game, which was pretty good. I should have gotten that fifth, but stuff happens. Beggars can’t be choosers. Highlight for the team. We only lost the first baker’s game by 40 pins. So, I mean, we’re right on their toes as soon as we get more consistency out of our players, we will probably be a pretty good matchup for PRP.” Hale also noticed some highlights from the day, as well.

They lost the game against DeSales, losing both baker’s matches. The people who participated in the baker’s games were senior Austin Hale, junior David Scholtz, senior Jackson Cox, junior Austin Graham and freshman Justin Collins.

Raley’s plan to continue to help the team continue to improve is by getting bowlers practice on their own, for upcoming games. “Well, unfortunately, we’re running out of time for practices. So, kids are going to have to practice a little on their own. I just think some of it is a mental aspect of not being confident enough in ourselves. The kids have to believe that they know what to do and can do it, and so they have to be in a good frame of Mind. We’ll try to get another couple practices; I think we have four more matches, then the last week starts region. So, we’re running out of time, but we’ll be the best we can be; that’s all we can strive for,” Raley said.

Hale plans to improve, by controlling more speed and consistency, for upcoming games. “I plan on improving speed control and also consistency. Today, it was either really fast up the right side, or really slow starting on the left and hooking the whole lane. So, speed is definitely a big factor, and so is the surface of the bowling ball,” Hale said, “It feels great to be named sixth in the region, because I was on the team last year, and from my experiences, probably the best bowling day in my life since then so far, other than my 300’s; not to flex or anything. It feels nice. It feels very rewarding. It tells me that I’m doing the right stuff.” Hale is also excited about being named sixth in the region this past month in December, meaning he could qualify for the state tournament.

The next game will be a unified North Bullitt game, at Ken Bowl, at 3:30 p.m., Jan. 18.