Brady set for one final roll
Trevor Brady will be ready for this weekend’s TSSAA State Bowling Tournament — in more ways than one.
The Santa Fe senior, making his fourth state tourney appearance in as many years, will be well-armed as he tries to improve on his third-place finish from a year ago in the Division I boys individual event at the Smyrna Bowling Center.
Brady will be one of three Maury County athletes competing in the state tournament. Spring Hill junior Nick Erdman is also in the 54-man Division I field, while Columbia Academy senior Austin Pameticky qualified in Division II.
“I’m taking eight (of his 15) balls,” Brady said this week. “I’ve got different varieties, depending on how the oil pattern is. Different balls react differently to different patters. Some I get drilled specifically to hook more or less.”
Through regular-season bowling, lanes are oiled for a ‘house shot’, which is typically straightforward from place to place and from lane to lane. At the state tournament, lanes are oiled for a ‘sports shot’, which may vary from one lane to the next.
For the left-handed Brady, oil patterns take on an extra factor.
“If there’s other left-handers on that lane, it’ll affect me,” he said. “If I’m the only one, that’s good for me. I can find my line and nobody will mess it up.”
Determining the break during warmups will help Brady settle on a ball prior to each round.
With his third-place finish a year ago (after placing 25th his freshman year and 37th as a sophomore), Brady enters this week as the top returning finisher while pursuing the first TSSAA-sanctioned state championship in school history.
“It’s kind of emotional, being my last,” he said. “I’ve got to come in there and try my best. (Last year) is just motivation to do better. It definitely calms my nerves down, being that I’ve already (made the finals once). I won’t be as nervous since I’ve already done it once.”
“It means a lot. Going to Santa Fe, not many people know about Santa Fe. To know people do know about me means a lot. it’s very significant.”
Brady, who posted an 837 series earlier this season, comes into the state tourney with the third-best average among all qualifiers at 222 — a few short of his 229.6 qualifying mark last year, which was fourth in the state field.
“This summer, I took a lot of time off from bowling,” he said. “I think that affected me a lot. I wish I could have averaged higher, but I still made state.”
Erdman, with a 213.74 average, is fifth among state qualifiers behind Germantown junior Justin Rodgers (229.70); Blackman senior Jacob Berry (227.87), who placed 10th a year ago; Brady; and Collierville senior Camden Dauberger (219.23).
“The expectations are high,” Spring Hill coach Don McKinnon said regarding Erdman. “I certainly don’t want to jinx him, but he has a great chance to do good things. He’ll have some pressure on him, but I think he has the mental strength to handle everything that’s thrown at him.”
Pameticky averaged 190.83 over the regular season, 18th among the 24 DII qualifiers, to earn his first state tourney berth.
Bowling begins at 9 a.m. with the Division I quarterfinals. The top 24 bowlers will advance to semifinal competition beginning at 1:30 p.m., which is when the DII semis will start as well. From the semis, six bowlers will advance to Friday’s 9 a.m. ladder format finals. There, the bowler with the sixth-highest pinfall from Thursday will face No. 5 head to head, with the winner taking on No. 4, and so on.