PEORIA, Ill. – Brittany Smith of Adel, Iowa, took down Melanie McDaniel of Joliet, Illinois, and Brandi Kordelewski of Mascoutah, Illnois, on her way to the 2025 Professional Women’s Professional Association Peoria Regional title at Landmark Recreation Center in Peoria, Illinois.
“(The win) feels great,” said Smith, who hadn’t bowled much since June’s U.S. Women’s Open in Lincoln, Nebraska, to help support her wife, Sarah, through the couple’s third pregnancy. “We had all intentions of continuing doing tour stops, but once we backed out of Green Bay, we didn’t get a whole lot of practice and then I hadn’t bowled after eight straight weeks of bowling.”
A few practice sessions for Smith prior to the regional shook off the rust as she qualified second after the eight-game qualifying block after averaging over 214 for a block total of 1,715, just six pins ahead of McDaniel’s 1,709. McDaniel faced Christine Polansky of Collinsville, Illinois, in the opening match of the finals and won with a clean 225 to Polansky’s 191, earning Polansky $650 for fourth place.
The semifinals started off with four straight strikes for Smith while McDaniel did her best to keep up, earning a double in frames four and five. A 4-9 split and open in the fifth for Smith halted her momentum as the lanes quickly transitioned.
McDaniel opened in the sixth with a 1-2-4-10 washout that went unconverted before notching another double to start closing the gap on Smith, who missed a 9 pin heading into the final frame, giving McDaniel a chance to put the pressure on. A 2-4-5-7-8 bucket that McDaniel chopped ended her chances at advancing and closed out with 183 to Smith’s 199, earning $850 for a third-place finish.
In the title match, Smith fell behind early but stayed clean after Kordelewski started with five strikes in the first six frames to stay within striking distance. Despite an open in the third and eight frames for Kordelewski, she maintained control of the match heading into the final frame after a strike in the ninth and another one plus good count would give Kordelewski the win.
A great shot for Kordelewski did not produce a great result, leaving a pocket 7-10 and ending the match with 191. Smith just needed two marks in final frame to win, which she did with a strike and 1-2-10 washout conversion for 195, earning her second PWBA Regional Tour title, the $2,200 top prize and an automatic match-play berth in the season-ending PWBA Regional Showdown, which will be held at Airport Lanes in Sanford, Florida, from Dec. 4-6.
Smith was also ailing a hip injury that put extra pressure on her.
“The chiropractor says it’s like piriformis syndrome, so it likes to work really hard when it should be my hamstring that’s working hard,” Smith said. “It causes a lot of pain and makes it hard to post shots.”
In spite of the pain, Smith fought her way to the title and will hopefully be in Florida, pending the birth of her third child that is due in November.
“Being back out here on this level feels amazing. If I had to make a guess, we’ll make it to Florida. It’ll be the first family vacation with a new baby and I’m not sure how Sarah will handle three kids while I bowl, but we’ll figure it out,” Smith said with a laugh.
Smith and this season’s other PWBA Regional Tour winners will automatically be seeded into the match-play field at the Regional Showdown, where 18 competitors will go head-to-head for round-robin match play. A qualifying round precedes match play to fill out the rest of the field.
The winner of the 2025 Regional Showdown will not only receive a cash prize, but she will also have her entry fees covered for all 2026 PWBA National Tour singles events as well.
Rockford, Illinois, is the next stop on the PWBA Regional Tour schedule for the PWBA Rockford Regional on September 14.
The entire PWBA Peoria Regional was streamed live on BowlTV. For more information on PWBA Regional competition, visit PWBA.com/regional-tour.
