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Bracket Results
Final Standings
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – In a battle between legends, Shannon Pluhowsky of Dayton, Ohio, defeated Liz Johnson of Niagara Falls, New York, 226-175, for her fifth Professional Women’s Bowling Association title, becoming eligible for the PWBA Hall of Fame and putting herself into the PWBA Tour Championship at ABC Gates Bowl in Rochester, New York.
Pluhowsky started the week outside the top 24 players in points, but a seventh-place finish at the Rochester Open just two days earlier placed her within striking distance of the season-ending major.
The left-handed Pluhowsky qualified as the No. 4 seed and faced off against another left hander in Sweden’s Anna Andersson to start the best-of-five Round of 16, a match that saw Pluhowsky with her back against the wall after going down two games to one. Pluhowsky came back to win, shooting games of 228 and 235 to Andersson’s 196 and 225.
“There’s not very many lefties, but somehow I drew one in the opening match,” Pluhowsky said while laughing. “I knew we were going to go back-and-forth, so it was just about sticking to the gameplan, going through different scenarios of what could happen.”
In the Round of 8, another best-of-five match, Pluhowsky went up against Singapore’s Shayna Ng, who was coming off a win against Player of the Year contender, Jordan Snodgrass of Adrian, Michigan. The match against Ng swung the opposite direction in terms of games bowled as Pluhowsky swept the Singaporean bowler, although games were fairly close (216-187, 249-230, 220-210) and had a few hits gone the other direction, it may have gone a full five games.
“Against Shayna I had the lane to myself and we were on the higher end, which typically hooks a little more and I can throw it harder,” said Pluhowsky. “I was able to get comfortable early and stay focused on me.”
That comfortability stayed with Pluhowsky for the semifinals against Lindsay Boomershine, coming off a five-game set against top seeded Valerie Bercier of Muskegon, Michigan. The Pluhowsky-Boomershine match was close early, but the Ohioan closed the game out with eight strikes in a row for 269 to Boomershine’s 189. Boomershine earned $3,500 for third place.
Waiting in the title match was Johnson, who started the championship round against Sweden’s Nora Johansson. That match came down to the final frame where Johnson needed to double after Johansson closed out with 227.
There’s a reason Johnson is in the PWBA Hall of Fame with 25 titles, though.
As she has done so many times throughout her career, Johnson calmly stepped up and threw the double she needed, plus one more for good measure, for 235 and denying Johansson a spot in the Tour Championship. Johansson needed to make the final match to advance to the major tournament, instead taking home $3,500 for her finish.
That set up the final match between Pluhowsky and Johnson, two of the sport’s best bowlers over the past decade. Johnson had to win if she was going to get into the Tour Championship as she didn’t have the necessary points to get in, while Pluhowsky had the points needed heading into the title match.
Pluhowsky wasn’t satisfied with just the points, she wanted the win.
Through the first half of the final match, neither bowler was able to get a leg up and Johnson held a one pin lead. Pluhowsky’s execution seemed off and she wasn’t looking as comfortable as she was during the previous match.
The second half was a completely different story with Pluhowsky firing off a string of strikes, Johnson not able to do the same and uncharacteristically missing an easy spare to give the lead over for good. Johnson finished with 175 to Pluhowsky’s 226, officially earning Pluhowsky the necessary criteria to be eligible for the hall of fame.
Pluhowsky earned the title and $10,000 top prize while Johnson earned $5,000 for her runner-up finish. The week is not over for Pluhowsky, however.
“It’s a relief (to win), but there’s a lot of work left to do,” said Pluhowsky. “Twenty four games is a lot, so I get to relax a little bit tonight and prepare for (Tour Championship).”
The Tour Championship field will be filled with winners from this season and the top 24 in points, who will return Sunday morning at 9 a.m. Eastern for the practice session before the first of three round-robin match-play rounds in the evening at 5 p.m. Eastern. Rounds 2 and 3 of match play will be Monday at 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern, where the top five after 24 games advance to the stepladder finals Tuesday night at 7 p.m. Eastern on CBS Sports Network.
Click HERE for the full list of competitors in the 2025 PWBA Tour Championship.