EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Alyssa Ferraro remembered. And when her moment came, she didn’t miss it.
On Saturday in East Providence, Rhode Island, the Deltona, Florida, bowler turned the tables on Karsyn Lukosius, rolling a 223-173 victory in the title match of the PWBA Rhode Island Regional to capture her first career PWBA Regional title.
The win at East Providence Lanes carried a little extra meaning.
It was a rematch of the title match from the 2025 PWBA Regional Showdown in Sanford, Florida, where Lukosius claimed her fifth regional title and left Ferraro still searching for her first. This time, the roles were reversed — and Ferraro made sure the ending was different.
“It felt great, because I wasn’t having to chase the title,” Ferraro said. “I was in a good position, and then I got to bowl against Karsyn, so, I was more comfortable going against her. We’re really good friends.
“I felt really confident going into the title match. I knew I was bowling well, and I just trusted what I’ve been doing.”
That confidence showed immediately.
Ferraro, who earned $2,100 for the win, opened the title match with four consecutive strikes before a solid 9-pin halted her momentum. But her start applied some early pressure against Lukosius, who could not get things going in the early frames.
The Freehold, New Jersey, bowler opened the title match with a strike, but then left a 4-pin in the second and a 4-10 split in the third, which she failed to convert. She also had back-to-back opens in the sixth and seventh frames, while Ferraro continued to mark with four straight single-pin spares after her opening four-bagger.
The match was all but over by the ninth frame, when Lukosius left a 4-pin. Ferraro struck in the ninth to put the match away.
“The right lane was giving me trouble,” said Lukosius, who earned $1,050 for her runner-up finish. “It was like a puddle or something down the lane, and I just tried to get the ball out on the lane more to kick out the 10.”
She felt fortunate just to reach the title match. In the semifinal game, Stephanie Casey of Yonkers, N.Y., needed just a mark in the 10th frame to beat Lukosius and advance to face Ferraro. But Casey left a 4-7-10 split and lost the match, 213-206.
“I was expecting to get third place, and luckily I got a break in that 10th frame,” Lukosius said. “To make it to the title match yet again is something I’ll always be proud of. Alyssa bowled great, and I’m happy for her. She got her revenge from the Showdown.”
Casey had eliminated Lauren Marks of Parsippany, N.J., in the opening match of the stepladder finals, 211-185. Casey collected $800 for third and Marks $600 for fourth.
It was the first stepladder appearance for both bowlers, and their highest finishes in PWBA Regional Tour events. Casey placed sixth and Marks seventh at the PWBA Eastern Pennsylvania Regional in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, last month.
Ferraro and Lukosius were locked in a back-and-forth battle throughout qualifying, each leading four games during the eight-game block. But it was Ferraro who made the decisive move when it mattered most.
In the final game of qualifying, Ferraro fired a 233 while Lukosius managed 185, allowing Ferraro to leapfrog into the No. 1 position for the stepladder finals — and control her own path to the title.
From there, she didn’t let it slip.
With the win, Ferraro earned an automatic match-play berth for the 2026 PWBA Regional Showdown in December, again in Florida. Last year she had to qualify to get to match play.
The winner of that event will have all 2027 PWBA National Tour entry fees covered (excluding the Professional Bowlers Association/PWBA Striking Against Breast Cancer doubles event). And if Ferraro wins there, she will take advantage of the situation.
“A hundred percent,” the 37-year-old responded when asked if she would bowl more PWBA national stops if she won this year’s Showdown. “I already had that thought when we bowled last December. I would bowl as much as I could.”
She would have to take extra time off from her two jobs – working as a Consumer Access Specialist at Advent Health and as a card dealer in a casino.
Ferraro enters a busy stretch of the season with momentum firmly on her side. She is set to compete in this year’s Queens and will soon take the lanes at the Women’s USBC Open Championships, two major opportunities to test her game against top-level fields.
The PWBA National Tour starts April 29 with the PWBA Bowlers Journal Rockford Open in Rockford, Illinois.
The next stop on the PWBA Regional Tour will be on August 30 with the PWBA Wichita Regional in Wichita, Kansas.
For more information on both tours, visit PWBA.com.
