ALLEN PARK, Mich.- Jillian Martin of Stow, Ohio, captured her third career Professional Women’s Bowling Association win Saturday evening, defeating Stephanie Zavala of Long Beach, California, 279-162, at the Pepsi Open, contested at Thunderbowl Lanes.
“I’m still in shock,” said Martin, who already has three total PWBA wins in her career, including the United States Bowling Congress Queens in May. “I threw the ball really great that last game and wasn’t expecting that to happen.”
Martin qualified as the No. 2 seed in the stepladder and faced reigning PWBA Player of the Year, Jordan Richard of Tipton, Michigan, in the semifinal match.
She quickly went to work, taking down Richard with a 257, throwing eight strikes in the game including a six-bagger in frames five through 10 to advance to the championship match. Richard had a 223 but it wasn’t enough to move on, earning $3,500 for third place.
In the championship match, the Jillian Martin show continued, starting with the first six strikes before a 10 pin ended her run at perfection. Zavala had two early opens on the right lane and quickly fell behind through four frames.
What little chance Zavala had was dashed after her third open in the seventh frame, whose struggles on the right lane continued before closing her game out with 162. Martin ended with the final five strikes after her 10 pin conversion for 279, leaving Detroit with the trophy and $10,000 top prize. Zavala earned $5,000 for her runner-up finish.
Martin’s prior experiences in tournaments plays a big part in her ability to compete and win on the biggest stages in bowling, as well as not get caught up in bad bowling if it happens.
“I think my ability to put things in perspective helps me take things one shot at a time. I have this level of acceptance where I know that, if for some reason I bowl terrible, everything is still going to be okay.”
As a non-member, Martin is unable to compete in the PWBA Tour Championship event and will be heading back to the University of Nebraska for her junior year of college in the upcoming days.
The stepladder started with Melanie McDaniel of Joliet, Illinois, and Bryanna Coté of Tucson, Arizona. McDaniel was making her second career stepladder appearance while it was Coté’s second straight stepladder.
Both bowlers kept pace with one another until McDaniel had a five-bagger in the final five frames to pull away after Coté opened in the ninth. McDaniel ended with a 237 victory while Coté ended with 210. Coté earned $2,200 for her fifth-place finish.
Next up for McDaniel was Richard and the second match came down to the last frame.
Once again neither bowler could pull away from each other, with McDaniel recovering from an opening split with four strikes in a row in the middle. Richard stayed clean throughout and the match was tied heading into the final frame.
The reigning POY finished first and struck all three shots in the 10th to force McDaniel to do the same for a tie, but McDaniel’s first ball went high, allowing Richard to advance to the semifinals against Martin.
The 2024 PWBA Tour season will begin its final event of the season Sunday as 24 players start their hunt for the final major title of the season with the PWBA Tour Championship.
Players advancing to the Tour Championship will be: Sin Li Jane of Malaysia; Shannon Pluhowsky of Dayton, Ohio; Singapore’s Cherie Tan; England’s Verity Crawley; Singapore’s New Hui Fen; Coté; Ukraine’s Dasha Kovalova; Richard; Zavala; Crystal Elliott of Palm Bay, Florida; Kelly Kulick of Union, New Jersey; Lindsay Boomershine of Brigham City, Utah; Latvia’s Diana Zavjalova; Stefanie Johnson of McKinney, Texas; Lauren Russo of Ballwin, Missouri; Erin McCarthy of Elkhorn, Nebraska; Liz Kuhlkin of Schenectady, New York; Hope Gramly of Aubrey, Texas; Josie Barnes of Hermitage, Tennessee; Colombia’s Maria Jose Rodriguez; Summer Jasmin of Beckley, West Virginia; Ashly Galante of Palm Harbor, Florida; Canada’s Felicia Wong; and Julia Bond of Aurora, Illinois.
This year’s Player of the Year award is still up for grabs as well in the major event, with Sin only leading by a slim margin.
Tour Championship starts competition with the first of three round-robin match play at 5 p.m. Eastern on Sunday. All rounds leading up the stepladder finals will be live-streamed on BowlTV.
