PWBA Regional Showdown set to conclude 2024 PWBA season
WINTER PARK, Fla. – The Professional Women’s Bowling Association Regional Showdown will mark the final chapter of the 2024 PWBA season, and Aloma Bowl in Winter Park, Florida, is set to the host the event for the second straight year.
Bowlers from all over North America will be competing not only for a title and the $4,000top prize, but also to have all of their 2025 PWBA National Tour entry fees (not including the SABC Mixed Doubles event) covered for all events the champion chooses to bowl, a savings of up to $4,700.
Last year’s Regional Showdown winner, Kerry Smith of Lititz, Pennsylvania, competed in seven national tour stops during the 2024 PWBA Tour season and will once again be looking for a win in Winter Park to help her continue living out her dreams.
“Having my entry fees covered for the 2024 season was a huge help,” said Smith. “It allowed me to be able to focus on just going out and competing to the best of my ability.”
Smith’s path to a second consecutive Regional Showdown win will be tougher this year as she was unable to capture a Regional win prior to the Showdown, meaning she will have to qualify for match play instead of automatically being seeded; nevertheless, that won’t deter her.
“I'm going to treat this tournament just like any other tournament, which is to go out and throw the best shots possible,” Smith said. “My route to match play is a little longer this year as I have to go through qualifying, but it's just a little detour. My thought process is one shot, one frame and one game at a time.”
The event starts Thursday with the official practice session, and competition kicks off on Friday at 8 a.m. Eastern with an eight-game qualifying block to complete the 16-player field for round-robin match play.
Two eight-game match-play rounds will take place Friday at 6:30 p.m. Eastern and Saturday at 9 a.m. Eastern before the top four move on to the stepladder finals Saturday at 3 p.m. Eastern. The tournament will be streamed live from start to finish on BowlTV.
Players who won regionals during the 2024 season are automatically seeded into match play where they are guaranteed to cash.
Those with automatic bids into match play are:
Karsyn Lukosius of Jackson, New Jersey, winner of the Myrtle Beach, Eastern Pennsylvania and Rhode Island Regionals
Kaitlyn Stull of Charlotte, North Carolina, winner of the Mooresville Regional
Nicole Wilson of Northville, Michigan, winner of the Green Bay Regional
Melissa Voytko of Brunswick, Ohio, winner of the Cleveland Regional
Chloe Herman of Aurora, Colorado, winner of the Northern Colorado Regional
Angela Glaser of Lockport, New York, winner of the Rochester Regional
Oklahoma Regional winner Esther Cheah of Malaysia will not be attending the Regional Showdown, opening an additional match-play spot for the qualifying field and allowing 10 players to advance out of qualifying.
