SPOILER ALERT: The following story contains information about the stepladder finals of PWBA events that will air on CBS Sports Network in June. Complete stories will be distributed after each final airs.
BATON ROUGE, La. – The Professional Women’s Bowling Association conducted the stepladder finals for three events Tuesday at the Raising Cane’s River Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and the finals will air on CBS Sports Network in June.
The QubicaAMF PWBA Sonoma County Open, PWBA Storm Sacramento Open and PWBA Fountain Valley Open finals are part of the CBS Sports Network television package with the United States Bowling Congress.
CBS Sports Network is televising 23 bowling events in 2017, including 13 PWBA Tour events.
The USBC Queens, the first major of the 2017 PWBA Tour season, also was held at the Raising Cane’s River Center and televised Tuesday. The stepladder finals of the three PWBA events were taped for broadcast.
The dates the shows will air (all times Eastern):
Colombia’s Rocio Restrepo won her third career PWBA title at the QubicaAMF PWBA Sonoma County Open, staying clean in the title match against Brandi Branka of Fairview Heights, Illinois, to win 203-168.
Branka, making her first championship-round appearance, defeated Shannon Pluhowsky of Dayton, Ohio, in the semifinal, 211-197. Pluhowsky bested Colombia’s Maria Jose Rodriguez in the opening match, 222-205. The finalists for the QubicaAMF PWBA Sonoma County Open were determined at Double Decker Lanes in Rohnert Park, California.
USBC Hall of Famer Liz Johnson of Deerfield, Illinois, delivered in the 10th frame of the championship match to win the PWBA Storm Sacramento Open over 2017 USBC Queens champion Diana Zavjalova of Latvia, 224-211, to earn her 17th PWBA title. Johnson and Zavjalova also met in the finals of the 2017 Queens, which Zavjalova won, 247-216.
Having a chance to lock up the win, Zavjalova stepped up first in the 10th frame and left a 6-7 split, which she was unable to convert. Johnson needed a mark to collect the win and struck on her first shot.
Zavjalova, the No. 3 seed, defeated Danielle McEwan of Stony Point, New York, 192-163, in the day’s opening match and went on to top Colombia’s Rocio Restrepo in the semifinal, 221-198. The finalists for the PWBA Storm Sacramento Open were determined at Steve Cook’s Fireside Lanes in Citrus Heights, California.
Six-time major champion Kelly Kulick of Union, New Jersey, won her first title since the relaunch of the PWBA Tour at the PWBA Fountain Valley Open, edging England’s Verity Crawley in the title match, 224-218.
Kulick delivered a strike on her fill ball to force Crawley to double in the 10th frame to win her first PWBA title, but she left a 3-6-10 combination on her first shot to give Kulick her first official PWBA title since the 2003 U.S. Women’s Open.
Crawley defeated Johnson in the semifinals, 241-211, while Johnson out struck Singapore’s Cherie Tan in the opening match, 275-258. The finalists for the PWBA Fountain Valley Open were determined at Fountain Bowl in Fountain Valley, California.
