“They were absolutely committed to breaking through and getting past the cut,” Butler coach Mark Seelbaugh said. “To be honest, that was the biggest goal they had all season, it was our third time there and they needed to figure out how to crack that nut.”
The Aviators started strong and were in second place behind Perry after three regular qualifying games. Junior Elizabeth Koewler led the Butler squad with 632, eighth place overall, with senior Sage Malott also placing in the top 20 with 598. After a strong five-game Baker series, the Aviators took the lead heading into the championship round.
The top seed fell behind 1-2, however, to No. 8 Wapakoneta in the quarterfinals.
“They tightened up a little bit,” Seelbaugh said of his team. “But I think they decided they weren’t going down to the eighth seed.”
Butler rattled off the next two games — the decider by just a single pin — to move on to the semifinals. There was a bit of déjà vu as the Aviators again went down 1-2, this time to Celina.
“The one thing I told them was, ‘we’ve been a strong Baker team all season,’” Seelbaugh said. “Remember who you are and remember what got us here.”
The Aviators remembered, winning the next two games by a combined 43 pins to advance to the final match where, again, they dropped the opening game. After that it was all Aviators as Butler tallied three straight 200 games (205, 212, 222) for the win.
“The arm swings got loose, and they were all really focused,” Seelbaugh said. “The Butler girls we’ve known all season were back.”
They join the Aviators boys bowling team of 2019 as the only two team state champions in the 100-plus year history of Butler High School. The moment wasn’t lost on longtime Aviators coach Steve Sacks.
“Nineteen seasons ― 11 as program head coach, eight as an assistant coach — this one is very special,” Sacks said. “Our top three seniors (Ashlin Conley, Jolene Powers and Malott) have been with us since they were freshmen. We’ve been building for this moment for their entire high school careers.”
Two previous trips to state raised the expectations for the veteran team.
“The last two years have been great, but our goal this year was to win the MVL, make it to state, make top eight and take our chances knowing if we bowled our game and focused on us, we could do it. And the rest is history. So proud of all these young ladies for believing in the process.”
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