Titles in three PWBA events decided at 2017 U.S. Women’s Open Championships
SPOILER ALERT: The following story contains information about the stepladder finals of PWBA events that will air on CBS Sports Network later in August. Complete stories will be distributed after each final airs.
PLANO, Texas – The stepladders finals of three Professional Women’s Bowling Association events were conducted Sunday at Plano Super Bowl and each final will be televised on CBS Sports Network in August.
The PWBA Orlando Open, PWBA St. Petersburg-Clearwater Open and the Nationwide PWBA Rochester Open are part of the CBS Sports Network television package with the United States Bowling Congress. CBS Sports Network is televising 23 bowling events in 2017, including 13 PWBA Tour events.
The broadcast schedule for the events (all times Eastern):
- Tue., Aug. 15 – PWBA Orlando Open, 8:30 p.m.
- Tue., Aug. 22 – PWBA St. Petersburg-Clearwater Open, 8:30 p.m.
- Tue., Aug. 29 – Nationwide PWBA Rochester Open, 8 p.m.
In the stepladder finals of the PWBA Orlando Open, Stefanie Johnson of McKinney, Texas, won three matches to win the first event she entered this season. Johnson, on maternity leave at the start of the season, made her first PWBA Tour appearance of the 2017 season during qualifying and match-play rounds of the PWBA Orlando Open, which took place June 30 and July 1 at Boardwalk Bowl in Orlando, Florida, and earned the No. 4 seed.
In Sunday’s stepladder finals, she took down Liz Johnson, 210-176, and then defeated Danielle McEwan of Stony Point, New York, 245-216, to earn the chance to face top-seed Birgit Poppler of Germany. In the title match, an open frame by Poppler in the eighth frame gave Johnson an opening and she took advantage for a 189-184 victory to win her second career PWBA Tour title.
Colombia’s Clara Guerrero also looked to run the stepladder of the PWBA St. Petersburg-Clearwater Open as the No. 4 seed. She took down McEwan, 215-198, and Giselle Poss of Montgomery, Illinois, 235-214, and had the chance to shut out Shannon O’Keefe of O’Fallon, Illinois, with a double and eight pins in the final frame.
But Guerrero left the 4-6-7-10, and the open frame opened the door for the top-seeded O’Keefe. Needing a spare and nine pins to win, O’Keefe got the spare and then struck on her fill ball for a 202-200 victory. Seminole Lanes in Seminole, Florida, was the host for the qualifying and match-play rounds of the PWBA St. Petersburg-Clearwater Open on July 7-8.
Kristina Szczerbinski of North Tonawanda, New York, making her first championship-round appearance in the finals of the Nationwide PWBA Rochester Open, topped Guerrero, 201-149, in the opening match but would fall to fellow left-hander Shannon Pluhowsky of Dayton, Ohio, 254-181.
In the title match, McEwan, bowling in her third consecutive stepladder finals, won her third PWBA Tour title with a 226-224 victory over Pluhowsky. The qualifying and match-play rounds of the Nationwide PWBA Rochester Open were July 13-15 at AMF Gates Lanes in Rochester, New York.
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