Author:	Reilly Roach
	Grade:	Junior
	School:	DeSales HS
	Mascot:	Irish
	League:	South East
	Classification:	1B

Greetings from Walla Walla. This is Reilly Roach, and I am currently a junior at DeSales Catholic High School. DeSales is made up of a small community of only about 100 students, but we try not to let numbers get in the way of our success.  DeSales is proud to be a school with a rigorous curriculum, competitive athletics, and a close-knit faith community. But with such a small population, everyone is highly encouraged to participate in multiple athletics, clubs, and other extracurricular activities such as student government. I participate in football, basketball and baseball, as well as Math Team and Knowledge Bowl, and am a member of the National Honor Society. I stay pretty busy in Walla Walla.

This past fall, our football team didn’t quite have the year that was expected. In our first league game, we lost to Waitsburg-Prescott (who would go to Tacoma in December and bring home the trophy for the first time in its school history) in what was a pretty close, well fought game. From there we didn’t lose another league game, and wound up playing Reardon in the crossover game as the #2 seed from our league. That game ended up being a nail-biter, but we pulled through with the win in overtime. The next weekend we played White Swan but went into it with the wrong mentality, thinking we were going to walk over them as we did previously in the season. We lost, and ended the year with a 7-3 record.

The loss to White Swan transpired on a Friday, and just three days later, I already had my basketball shoes laced up, and was in the gym at my first basketball practice of the year. Our basketball season ended up not being as promising as many of us would have hoped. We ended the year with one league win, and that was more than a little disappointing. On the other hand, our girls have only lost one game, so we are hoping they will go far in the state tournament.

Baseball starts in two weeks and I am really excited to hit the diamond. We have enjoyed a strong history of winning with our baseball program under our current and long presiding coach, Kim Cox. In just over two decades, DeSales baseball has earned sixteen state titles due to his good coaching and the players’ hard work. I am hoping to make it seventeen this year and am very confident in our team. I think we can do it.

Immersed in all my athletics, academics, and activities, this school year has really flown by! DeSales High School and the Walla Walla community is such a great place to be, and I am very thankful for my affiliations with the two! GO IRISH!