SMYRNA, Tenn. — The McCallie School bowling team won the program’s third Division II state championship Saturday, two weeks after the TSSAA tournament was supposed to end at the Smyrna Bowling Center.
Soddy-Daisy finished second in the Division I boys’ bracket, defeating Memphis Overton 17-10 before losing 21.5-5.5 to Wilson Central. Wilson Central also won the girls’ championship.
St. Agnes won the Division II girls’ title by defeating the St. Benedict team that advanced past GPS by way of a 27-0 forfeit. The Bruisers had eight bowlers and their head coach unavailable for the rescheduled semifinals because of other commitments.
Several of McCallie’s bowlers play other sports, and coach Josh Deitrick noted that his sport is relatively low-pressure and fun for them. But he emphasized before the Blue Tornado returned to Smyrna that they are highly competitive, and they particularly didn’t want to lose their semifinal against the Battle Ground Academy team that eliminated them 14-13 in the same round last year.
So McCallie won 16-11 with a slim margin of 11 total pins that was the difference in another 14-13 loss. Then the Tornado loosened up and beat Donelson Christian Academy 20-7 with a 246 pin margin.
“It was tough, but it was still fun,” Deitrick said after the Tornado’s first finals appearance in his four years as coach. “The first game against BGA was really tough. We weren’t bowling really well — some guys were struggling — but we were able to pull off the win at the end.
“Once we got to DCA, I think the guys got their rhythm down and bowled like they know how to.”
Deitrick cited a boost from reserve bowler Lawson Allen and particularly praised sophomore Evan Speicher. Speicher had a 685 series to lead the win over DCA, which McCallie closed out with five 200 games in the last six-man set.
Senior Kevin Lutz, who paced the Tornado (16-0) in season average, took the lead role in the semifinal with 241 and 234 scores in his first two games and a 672 series. Casey Pope had a 739 for BGA with 235 as his lowest score, but the Tornado fed off a 6-2, 74-pin margin in the first game for the win.
Cody Hunter’s 678 series and state bowler of the year Matt Lyon’s 669 led Soddy-Daisy (20-1) over Overton, but the Trojans have totaled more than their 3,534 pins in that match numerous times this season. Wilson Central totaled 3,811 in its semifinal win and then had 3,643 compared to Soddy-Daisy’s 3,449 in the final.
“Some of our players just didn’t show up with their ‘A’ game, and if you don’t have your ‘A’ game at this level, you’re not going to win,” Trojans coach David O’Malley Sr. said. “We preach that if you don’t make spares you’re going to lose, and they didn’t make enough spares and lost.
“The boys never gave up, but they just didn’t have enough.”
O’Malley noted that the Trojans matched the program’s best finish and were one of “the last two teams in the state, and I think there are more than 150 in Division I. We were just the bridesmaid instead of the bride.”