BUTLER TWP — Perfection is always strived for, rarely achieved.

Unless you're the Butler varsity girls bowling team. Then it's an expectation.

The 2014-15 Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Bowling League season gets under way Wednesday with the Golden Tornado riding a streak of five consecutive perfect regular seasons. That 50-match winning streak will be on the line Wednesday at Mars.

Butler High School bowling is entering its sixth season. The girls have never lost.

“The girls take a lot of pride in that streak. It motivates them, especially the seniors who have been around for a while and have played a big part in it,” second-year Butler coach Bob Cupp said.

“They don't want to see it go away.”

Cupp considers Butler to be the favorite to repeat as WPIBL Section 2 champs “because that's the expectation we put on ourselves.”

Armstrong and Mars are other section contenders in the girls division.

Four seniors will anchor the Tornado girls lineup, highlighted by Megan Paul. Her 177 average paced the section last season and she finished second at the state tournament individually with a 233 game and 628 series.

Mikayla White (168), Baylee Verner (148) and Abby Bagley (139) are other seniors in the lineup. The fifth bowler will likely be freshman Nicole Nebel, who averaged 156 in Butler's nine-game team qualifying tournament during the preseason.

Fellow freshmen Ashley McCue and Mercedes Belch are pushing Nebel for the fifth spot, as is junior Brianna Stivason.

“The girls are pushing each other and Megan Paul has really taken on a leadership role this year,” Cupp said. “She not only wants to have a big year herself, she's interested in the other bowlers doing well.

“This team wants to get back to the state tournament.”

Butler placed sixth in the state tourney last year after winning the championship in 2013.

The Tornado boys graduated Jacob Cookson, the section's top bowler, but returns quite a bit of talent as well.

Junior Matt Wetzel (195) and sophomore Nick Huff (185) lead the way this year, along with senior Dan Bellis (175). Also cracking the lineup is junior Nick Bonomo, who averaged 190 in the nine-game team qualifier.

“That's 30 pins above where he was at last year,” Cupp said. “Nick has really improved.”

Juniors Kyle Bintrim (185), Jeff Cupp (169) and Hunter Lefevre (164) are also in the mix, along with freshmen Shawn Marcellus and Zach Twentier. Both averaged well into the 170's during the qualifier.

“We've got a lot of depth here,” Cupp said. “Both of our teams have talented freshmen who are pushing the upperclassmen and that just makes everybody better.”

Butler's boys have won the section four times in five years. Knoch was the only team to beat them out.

This year, Cupp considers Armstrong to be “the team to beat” on the boys side.

“They are where our boys were last year, bringing back a solid, seasoned team,” he said.

Knoch is under new leadership this year as Kevin Hindman — who won the individual state title with the Knights in 2012 — takes over as head coach. Knoch has nine girls and 10 boys on its roster.

Sophomore Chelsea Cimbala (144) and freshman Chale Durand lead the Knight girls. Senior Joel Zacherl (188), freshman Bryan Hindman (180), senior Jon Angello (158) and sophomore Dylan McCommon lead the boys lineup.

“Except for Butler, maybe, we should be able to compete in our section matches,” Coach Hindman said.

Hindman said he should be able to help Knoch's bowlers stay calm while competing.

“I'm a laid-back bowler and when you roll a bad ball, you shrug it off and move on,” he said. “I think I can help some of our bowlers that way.

“Once you get the fundamentals down, you can move forward to more advanced stuff.”

Ralph Jockel enters his fifth year at Mars and has eight girls and five boys on the roster. Sophomore Allison Bruce paces the Planet girls with a 158 average. Junior Karly Arendt had a 143 last year.

Daniel Schell, a sophomore, leads the boys with a 145.

“We're a little deeper on the girls side this year. I think we can get to the playoffs there,” Jockel said.

Seneca Valley's boys could be strong as the Raiders return four bowlers — Jon Elluinger (173), Derek Weaver (160), Brady McBrien (158) and Tyler Prininger (152) — with averages over 150.

Hayley Hardcastle (59) is the top bowler on the girls side for SV.

The top two teams in each section advance to the WPIBL team playoffs.

Denny Morrow is back for his sixth season at Karns City and is the only coach the Gremlins have ever had. Karns City's teams went winless last year.

“Our numbers are up this season,” Morrow said. “We've got 23 bowlers, including 15 boys.”

Grant Curdo, a junior, averaged 160 last season. Junior Noah Claypoole and seniors Austin Haid and Tyler Krumpe are other key bowlers for the Gremlins.

The KC girls are led by senior Britney Reitler and Courtney Sutton.

“We just want to take a step forward this year, get a couple of wins and compete a little more,” Morrow said. “This section is very tough.”