Bowling World Aug/Sep 2019

12 www.bowlingworld.com - Aug/Sep 2019 O'Keefe Wins Fourth Title Of 2019 At Bowlerx.com PWBA Orlando Open by Daniel Farish a nd Aaron Smith ORLANDO, Fla. - Shannon O'Keefe of Shiloh, Illinois, became the first player in nearly 20 years to claim four titles in a Professional Women's Bowling Association Tour season by winning the 2019 Bowl- erX.com PWBA Orlando Open at Boardwalk Bowl. O'Keefe, the reigning PWBA Player of the Year, edged Danielle McEwan of Stony Point, New York, in the championship match Sat- urday, 207-202, to record her 12th career PWBA Tour title and take home the $10,000 top prize. The stepladder finals of the BowlerX.com PWBA Orlando Open aired live on CBS Sport Network. "I don't know if there are words to describe it," O'Keefe said. "I'm very proud of my season, proud of how I'm competing and proud of how I've been mentally approach- ing it. This season, more than any other, has just been so vivid to me." O'Keefe and McEwan have been at the top of the PWBA points list the last two seasons, and the title tilt lived up to expectations, as both players entered their respective final frame with the chance to secure the win. O'Keefe, who finished the match first, had made a ball change on the left lane in the eighth frame but elected to switch back to the ball she used throughout the step- ladder finals after making a bad shot and leaving a 3 pin, which she converted. "We decided to be a little gutsy in the eighth frame," O'Keefe said. "I threw that ball in the fill the previous game, and it read the lane so well. We were trying to strike on that lane, and I just threw a bad shot." With a strike in the ninth frame, she needed to roll two strikes in the 10th for the chance to shut out McEwan. After recording the first strike, she left a 4 pin on her second shot to give McEwan an opportunity to lock up her second win of 2019. "The left lane was just a little tricky," O'Keefe said. "It had a little wiggle spot, but if you got it going up the lane, it wanted to hook. I was really making sure my hand was soft through the bottom and to stay down on my shots. I told myself to just exe- cute and be proud of my execution. I threw the first one in the 10th so good, but I twirled the second one just a bit." McEwan's first delivery in the 10th frame was left of target, resulting in a 6-10. O'Keefe's run of success since the relaunch of the PWBA Tour in 2015 is apparent, but her ability to keep putting herself in position to win now has her name being mentioned with great bowlers from different eras. The last time a player won at least four titles in a season on the PWBA Tour was 2001, when future United States Bowling Congress Hall of Famers Carolyn Dorin-Ballard (7 wins) and Liz Johnson (4 wins) and Australia's Cara Honeychurch (4 wins) each accomplished the feat. The 2001 season featured 23 events, while O'Keefe claimed her fourth title in the 12th event of the season. The PWBA ceased operations dur- ing the 2003 season before the relaunch in 2015. "As I get older and my career progresses, it's very cool to hear your name mentioned in the same sentence as the people you've looked up to," O'Keefe said. "To be able to achieve something like that is very humbling for me." O'Keefe was the No. 2 seed for Saturday's championship round after a miscue in her final frame during the Round of 12 earlier in the day cost her the chance to tie for the top seed and force a one-game roll-off with McEwan. Needing a double in the 10th frame to secure the top spot outright or a strike and spare to tie McEwan, O'Keefe delivered the first strike but left and missed a 10 pin to finish the frame and fall one pin short of McEwan's overall qualifying total of 4,788 for 22 games. McEwan admitted to not making the shots she needed in the title match, but she's still seeing improvement in her game as the 2019 season. "It wasn't a good shot (in the 10th frame), and I had too many bad shots against the greatest player on the planet in Shannon O'Keefe," said McEwan, a five-time PWBA Tour champion and the 2019 U.S. Women's Open winner. "That's just some- thing you can't do. "I ended up holding onto a spot on the show, though, which is an improvement from last week. I'm happy to still be seeing small improvements in my game from week to week, especially at this point of the season." In Saturday's semifinal, O'Keefe rolled four consecutive strikes, starting in the fourth frame, to jump ahead of Colombia's Rocio Restrepo and never looked back, earning her spot in the title match with a 226-201 win. Restrepo, a four-time PWBA Tour champion who has been fighting injuries all season, was making her first championship-round appearance of the year. Restrepo advanced to the semifinals by staying clean in a 197-179 win over Liz Kuhlkin of Schenectady, New York. Kuhlkin won the 2018 U.S. Women's Open at Boardwalk Bowl, winning four consecutive matches on her way to the title. In Saturday's opening match, Kuhlkin rolled eight strikes on the way to a 228-194 victory over Katelyn Simpson of Emmett, Idaho. Simpson was making her first ca- reer championship-round appearance. A total of 32 players earned spots in this week's main field. The top 24 players on the 2019 PWBA points list (through the Pepsi PWBA Louisville Open) secured auto- matic spots in the field, while a pre-tournament qualifier (PTQ) held Thursday at Boardwalk Bowl determined the bowlers filling the rest of the field. Singapore's Cherie Tan was the lone player in the top 24 not to compete this week, which allowed nine bowlers to advance from the PTQ. A second event was taped for broadcast Saturday at Boardwalk Bowl after the conclusion of the BowlerX.com PWBA Orlando Open. Julia Bond of Aurora, Illinois, was able to record the win and claim the $6,000 top prize, besting former University of Nebraska teammate Gazmine Mason of Cran- ston, Rhode Island, in the two-game total-pinfall match, 441-420. Bond, the winner of two PWBA regional events this season, advanced to the finals by defeating Kayla Bandy of Salisbury, Maryland, 214-204. Mason, the winner of the PWBA East Hartford Regional, defeated PWBA Greater Cleveland Regional cham- pion Elise Bolton of Merritt Island, Florida, 217-214, to earn her spot in the finals. Bowling Battle offers League Bowlers a National Tournament Across Local Bowling Alleys in the US By Alan Rothstein Concord, CA Aug 7, 2019 /BowlingBattle/ - Bowling Battle announces the beginning of a Na- tional bowling tournament for those that bowl league at local bowling alleys. League bowlers will enter online contests that allow local league scores to compete across the US in any bowling alley that offers a USBC certified bowling league. Handicap divisions will identify an individual bowlers handicap as 80% of 225. Some bowling tournaments will also have scratch divisions for bowlers that prefer a scratch bowling tournament. All payouts are securely sent through PayPal. “League bowlers get their local alley advantage. Also, many USBC certified bowling leagues use a standard house oil pattern on the lanes. That coupled with handicap will level the playing field for all bowlers,” says Alan Rothstein of Bowling Battle. “Many bowling tournaments these days have little to no turnout and bowlers must travel to dif- ferent locations in the US to participate.” Bowling Battle allows league bowlers to use their weekly league bowling series to compete against other bowlers all across the US. In Late September 2019, Bowling Battle is offering a bigger league tournament that uses 3 weeks of league bowling to allow bowlers to compete for a first-place prize of $1,000. This tour- nament will have both handicap and scratch divisions. “Allowing league bowlers the ability to win cash prizes for their top scores gives them an additional reason to bowl good each week in league.” About Bowling Battle Bowling Battle offers online league tournaments that use USBC certified league bowler’s scores to compete for cash prizes. League scores are compiled from in person league results reported to Bowl.com and LeagueSecretary.com. Bowling Battle uses a secure website and keeps all entry fees in escrow on PayPal to be distributed securely through PayPal after the competition ends. info@bowlingbattle.com