December 21, 2023 Chase Kaufman

No, this is not a repeat article. No, I did not write about the same event twice. Yes, Walter Ray Williams Jr. won for the fourth straight month. Yes, Deo Benard also picked up his fourth title of the season. Yes, they are both very good. 

In the conclusive five events of the 2023 PBA Regional Tour, plenty of notable players made one last attempt for a title in 2023. Others used the competition to sharpen their skills before heading to Vegas for the 2023 BowlTV PBA Regional Players Invitational. Whatever their plan, the action was as good as it can get.

For the final time in 2023, read more in this week’s Regional Recap:

PBA FireLake Southwest Invitational

 

The PBA Southwest Region commenced the weekend in Shawnee, Okla. by honoring the region’s annual Hall of Fame inductees on Friday night. This year, John Burns, Del Ballard Jr., and Mark Williams joined the prominent bowlers in the Southwest Region Hall of Fame. 

Once bowling began, Alex George guided the star-studded 32-man field at +352 for 12 games to claim a double-bye along with François Lavoie, Trey Brand, and Eric Jones. But once the bracket got underway, the touring players took over.

Jones and Packy Hanrahan battled in the first semifinal, right after Hanrahan shot a 300 in his previous match, and Packy got this one done also with a 2-1 win. Anthony Lavery-Spahr squeaked past Shawn Maldonado in the other semifinal with wins of 224-223 and 237-234. 

The final match between Hanrahan and Lavery-Spahr was a thriller. The lefty got on the board first with a 264-219 win. But the righty never backed down. Lavery-Spahr produced a 279-241 win and then followed it up with a 230-222 victory to claim his 11th career regional title. 

PBA FireLake Southwest Invitational Final Standings

  1. Anthony Lavery-Spahr, $4,000
  2. Packy Hanrahan, $2,400
  3. Eric Jones, $1,500
  4. Shawn Maldonado, $1,500

PBA FireLake Southwest Invitational Full Results

PBA Timmy See Memorial Yulee Member/Non-Member Doubles

 

Yulee Bowling Center hosted this December PBA South Region event, which is perfect because maybe they handed out some ‘Yule’ Logs? No? Sorry.

Toby Sambueno and Steve Novak led qualifying by averaging 223, over nine pins higher than second place on the demanding 45-foot Dragon pattern. After 11 games of baker match play, Shawn Naumann and Tom Daugherty jumped into the lead with Nate Garcia and CJ Petrin in second. 

Garcia and Petrin won their position round match 194-180, but Sambueno and Novak shot 246 in their own position round to jump from third place to first, leapfrogging Garcia and Petrin by two pins to claim the title. Sambueno claimed his second title as a member and third overall, while Novak won his second as a non-member.

PBA Timmy See Memorial Yulee Member/Non-Member Doubles Final Standings

  1. Toby Sambueno and Steve Novak, $4,700
  2. Nate Garcia and CJ Petrin, $2,400
  3. Tom Daugherty and Shawn Naumann, $2,000
  4. Charles Noble Jr. and Cory Misura, $1,800

PBA Timmy See Memorial Yulee Member/Non-Member Doubles Full Results

PBA/PBA50 Select Key Motors Bristol Baker Doubles

 

Remaining in the South Region for their final event of the year during the last regional weekend, Jeff Campbell and Kennon McFalls put together quite the qualifying round. They delivered not one, but two baker 300s to propel them to the lead. But after 16 games of match play, they fell to fifth place, one spot outside of the stepladder. 

Michael Ritz and Zachary Tackett faced Brian Dennis and Nick Pate in the first round of the four-team stepladder. Team Dennis/Pate went strike-nine-spare in the 10th frame for a 226, giving Ritz and Tackett a chance to win with all three in the 10th. A 7-pin on the second shot ended their run.

In the next match, Dennis and Pate put their opponents, Bob Learn Jr. and Bryan Hahlen, in the same situation after striking out for 257. This time, Learn and Hahlen delivered all three in the 10th for a 258 and moved on to the finals.

The scoring pace dropped in the final match when Jon Rakoski and Nate Garcia stepped in, but the battle was still close. It was a two-mark match through eight frames, but a 2-10 split from Team Learn/Hahlen sank their hopes, shooting 189. Rakoski and Garcia finished with a 210, as Rakoski picked up his first regional title and Garcia his fourth.

PBA/PBA50 Select Key Motors Bristol Baker Doubles Final Standings

  1. Nate Garcia and Jon Rakoski, 2,500 points, $4,000
  2. Bryan Hahlen and Bob Learn Jr. 1,500, $2,250
  3. Nick Pate and Brian Dennis, 1,150, $2,000
  4. Zachary Tackett and Michael Ritz, 950, $1,900

PBA/PBA50 Select Key Motors Bristol Baker Doubles Full Results

PBA50/PBA Emerald Southwest Doubles

Onto another doubles tournament in December, this one at Emerald Bowl in Houston, 40 doubles teams competed on the Rick Steelsmith pattern for eight individual games. Texans Dino Castillo and Shawn Maldonado combined for a +405 and a first-place lead with plenty of games remaining.

But stop me if you’ve heard this one — Walter Ray Williams Jr. and Deo Benard jumped up to first after match play to claim the one-seed. Tom Hess and Sean Lavery-Spahr took the two-seed, while Chris and Ryan Barnes earned the three seed and faced Pete McCordic and Cody Meiers.

In the first match, the Barnes duo won 210-199 over McCordic and Meiers to set up a contest with Hess and Lavery-Spahr. In a high-scoring second match, Hess and Lavery-Spahr won 255-236 to move onto the finals. But in a close and exciting final, Williams and Benard earned a 236-232 victory. Both players notched their fourth title of the 2023 regional season, marking Williams’ 66th career regional win and Benard’s seventh.

PBA50/PBA Emerald Southwest Doubles

  1. Walter Ray Williams Jr. and Deo Benard, 2,500 points, $6,000
  2. Tom Hess and Sean Lavery-Spahr, 1,500, $4,000
  3. Chris Barnes and Ryan Barnes, 1,150, $2,700
  4. Pete McCordic and Cody Meiers, 950, $2,000

PBA50/PBA Emerald Southwest Doubles Full Results

PBA50 Fort Meade Open presented by Auto Spa Express

For the final recap before the grand poobah RPI, The Lanes Fort Meade hosted 61 bowlers hoping to grab a title in 2023. The top 16 bowlers headed into single-elimination bracket play separated by a little over 100 pins, so it was anyone’s game. 

The one-seed Bobby Hall II lost the first game in his best-of-three-games opening match, but put together a 299 and a 242 to move onto the semifinals. Hall then took down George Tomlinson III 213-199. Andrew Rettig shot a strong 269 to the 203 of Ray Edwards in the other semifinal.

In the finals, it was a battle of the chalk as the one and two-seeds faced off in a winner-take-all final. Rettig won 226-167 to capture his third career title and $1,700. 

PBA50 Fort Meade Open presented by Auto Spa Express Final Standings

  1. Andrew Rettig, 2,500 points, $1,700
  2. Bobby Hall II, 1,500, $1,150
  3. George Tomlinson III, 1,150, $900
  4. Ray Edwards, 950, $900

PBA50 Fort Meade Open presented by Auto Spa Express Full Results

View the season-long points standings in each region here.

Learn more on the BowlTV PBA and PBA50 Regional Players Invitational, which will be held Jan. 2-4, 2024 in Las Vegas, here.