Lukosius successfully defends PWBA Eastern Pennsylvania Regional title
Karsyn Lukosius poses with the trophy after winning the 2025 PWBA Eastern Pennsylvania Regional, which was held at Steel City Bowl and Brews in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, on Saturday.
BETHLEHEM, Pennsylvania – Karsyn Lukosius of Freehold, New Jersey, completed a successful title defense and picked up her fourth career Professional Women’s Bowling Association regional title by defeating Mallory Clark of Lewiston, Maine, 225-182, during the stepladder finals of the 2025 PWBA Eastern Pennsylvania Regional, which was contested at Steel City Bowl and Brews in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, on Saturday.
Lukosius, who earned the top seed for the stepladder after leading the 54-player field with an eight-game qualifying total of 1,793 (a 224.13 average), connected for eight strikes during the title match to punch her ticket to the winner’s circle for the second straight year at the Eastern Pennsylvania Regional and secure the tournament’s $1,900 first-place prize.
Clark, who earned her shot at Lukosius by defeating No. 3 seed Jennifer Russo of Monmouth Junction, New Jersey (244-206), to open the stepladder and then topping No. 2 Courtney Parenteau of West Warwick, Rhode Island (222-206), during the semifinal match, earned $1,000 for placing second.
Parenteau walked away with $700 for finishing third while Russo banked $500 thanks to her fourth-place finish.
Not only did Saturday’s performance run Lukosius’ Eastern Pennsylvania Regional winning streak up to two, but it also extended her streak of title-match appearances.
Incredibly, dating back to last season, Lukosius has now reached the championship match in all seven PWBA Regional tournaments in which she’s competed.
Lukosius isn’t quite sure how to explain the regional run she’s on; she just knows that she likes it.
“I’m just going to try to enjoy it,” Lukosius said. “Honestly, I’m shocking myself, but it’s fun.”
Lukosius had fun for most of the day on Saturday, breaking 200 during eight of the nine games she bowled (242, 204, 211, 267, 234, 209, 268 and 225); nevertheless, her one game under the 200 mark – 158 during Game 7 of qualifying – put her in jeopardy of not making the cut to the stepladder finals.
Lukosius obviously wasn’t pleased with the setback, but she’d been down that road before. As such, she responded in fine fashion.
“I always seem to do that; I always have that one bad game, but I never seem to let it affect me,” Lukosius said. “I fully blame myself there. It's not like it was a bad pair, so I will fully take accountability for that game. Still, I just moved on from that, and then I shot 260 because I was mad.”
That 260 game – 268 to be exact – quickly moved Lukosius’ name back to the top of the leaderboard and allowed her to earn the top seed for the stepladder.
Once there, some may have expected her to put pressure on herself to continue her magical run; however, that was not her approach at all.
“I don’t really feel pressure or put pressure on myself,” Lukosius said. “Bowling is so fun for me right now. I respect the people who bowl for a living, but bowling isn’t my full-time job. Every tournament I go to, I’m just happy to be there, happy to be healthy and having fun.”
Despite not using bowling as her full-time occupation at the moment, Saturday’s victory could potentially earn Lukosius the opportunity to do so in the future.
That’s because the win earned Lukosius a match-play berth at the season-ending PWBA Regional Showdown, which will be held at Airport Lanes in Sanford, Florida, from Dec. 4-6.
Lukosius and this season’s other PWBA Regional winners will automatically be seeded into the match-play field at the event.
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.
Lukosius narrowly missed out on securing that prize as she finished second at the 2024 Regional Showdown. While she would love to avenge that loss during this year’s event, she is prepared to roll with the punches no matter how things shake out.
“If the pins cooperate and things go my way like they did today, great, but if not, I’ll just keep working and moving forward,” Lukosius said.
The next PWBA Regional event will be contested August 17 at the PWBA Greater Columbus Regional, which will be held at HPL Bowling Center in Columbus, Ohio.
