March 10, 2022 Chase Kaufman

As the PBA continues its journey through the heart of the schedule, the Regional Tour rolls right alongside. This past weekend, Fort Myers, Florida, and Canton, Ohio held the Strike Zone Lanes Central Classic and the Lightning Strikes Challenge, respectively. The Fort Myers tournaments opened their doors to non-champions in the PBA and PBA50 events, while the Canton event hosted many familiar PBA50 faces.

CENTRAL REGION

PBA50 Strike Zone Lanes Central Classic

The Johnny Petraglia pattern hit the lanes where bowlers responded fairly well to the conditions. Eighty-five bowlers took to Strike Zone Lanes where it took a 223 average to advance to match play on Sunday. Dean Billings, who owns one regional title, led the way at +303 for eight games while Jay Davis Jr. followed closely behind at +299, which included a pair of 300 games. Bob Eckenrode barely snuck into the cut at +191, topping three bowlers who finished at +190. The following day, 12 games of match play allowed for plenty of movement where Troy Lint moved from third to first thanks to a 277 in game nine and a 270 in game ten against eventual second-place finisher Rick Graham. Lint, also a Pennsylvania USBC Hall of Famer, notched his 4th PBA50 regional title, all of which have come within the last three seasons.

PBA50 Strike Zone Lanes Central Classic Final Standings

  1. Troy Lint, 2,500 Points, $3,000
  2. Dave Johnson, 1,500, $1,700
  3. Ray Edwards, 1,150, $1,300
  4. Rick Graham, 950, $1,100
  5. Dean Billings, 850, $1,000

PBA50 Central Region Points Leaders

  1. Parker Bohn III, 3,065
  2. Michael Haggitt, 3,040
  3. Tom Hess, 2,650
  4. Troy Lint, 2,500
  5. Dave Johnson, 1,925

View the full Central Region points standings

SOUTH REGION

PBA50 Lightning Strikes Challenge (Non-Champions)

Down in the Sunshine State, owner of Lightning Strikes Bowl Robert Eddy hosted two spectacular events where the Del Ballard pattern wasn’t as amicable as the Petraglia pattern was up north in Ohio. Just 10 players finished plus for their seven-game block, while just 16 averaged over 190. A 190 pace turned out to be the goal for many, as Jerry Johnson established himself as the cut line at -55, averaging 192. Others such as Ralph Brunt Jr. made it look effortless, leading the field of 54 on Saturday by going +221, over 100 pins higher than second-place Joe Scarborough.

The top bowlers came back the next day to duke it out in a 16-man bracket decided by best-two-out-of-three-game matches, until the final round where one game determined the champion. After winning his first matchup, David Branch faced the one-seeded Brunt in a close match. Branch dropped game 1, but the Florida native came back to win the next two games, 233-224 and 208-186.

In his semifinal matchup, Branch made it a bit easier on himself, winning 231-180 and 180-156. In the other half of the bracket, John Dougherty III stormed through his matches, dropping just one of his nine games while never shooting a game under 204. When Branch and Doughtery met in the finals, Doughtery continued his torrid pace, shooting a 224 to Branch’s 137. Along with the $1,500 in prize money, Dougherty also claimed his first regional title and a banner to go with it.

PBA50 Lightning Strikes Challenge Final Standings

  1. John Doughtery III, $1,500
  2. David Branch, $1,000
  3. Jonathan Cross, $875
  4. Jon Rakoski, $875

PBA Lightning Strikes Challenge (Non-Champions)

Meanwhile, the “kids” event rolled on at the same time. Making the approximately three-hour trek from Port Richey to Fort Myers, Tyler Shingle took full advantage of his weekend vacation, averaging 240 for seven games to top the leaderboard after day one. As expected, places 2-16 were also littered with Floridians as 75% of the top 16 came from the southern state. Malik Grove and Austin Vogt both set the cut number at +113, but in a tiebreaker, Grove ended up taking the final spot.

In bracket play, Grove made good use of that final spot, taking out one-seeded Shingle in the first round. However, in the next round, Grove dropped his match to Evan Baranecky, and in turn, Baranecky fell in the semifinals to Charlie Forero. In the bottom half of the bracket, Chris Felker topped Ethan Fiore to advance to the finals. Felker went for 211 but Forero outdid him with a 256 game. Of course, it being a non-champions event, Forero earned the first banner of his career, along with a $1,500 check.

PBA Lightning Strikes Challenge Final Standings

  1. Charlie Forero, $1,500
  2. Chris Felker, $1,200
  3. Ethan Fiore, $1,000
  4. Evan Baranecky, $1,000

The South and the Central run it back this weekend in Indiana and North Carolina with a pair of PBA50 events. The following weekend, Oregon gets in on the action, hosting the PBA Rogue River Open, PBA50 Caveman Bowl Classic, and the PBA Women's Caveman Bowl Open. Moving two thousand miles east, the Show-Me state will host the PBA50 Four Seasons Property Management Midwest Ozark Open.