PBA players help Mookie Betts raise $150,000 for Charities

25 August, 2017

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Tommy Jones, Bill O’Neill, Dom Barrett, Tom Daugherty, Chris Via and Malaysia’s Zulmazran (ZZ) Zulkifli were participants in the inaugural Mookie Betts Big League Bowl held on August 17 at Jillian’s Lucky Strike Lanes in Boston, helping the Boston Red Sox star and noted bowling enthusiast raise more than $150,000 to benefit Pitching In For Kids and One Mission, a pair of charities aimed at improving the lives of children in New England and helping affected kids with their battles with cancer.

Pictured above from left: Bill O’Neill, Zulmazran Zulkifli, Chris Via, Mookie Betts, Dom Barrett, Tom Daugherty and Tommy Jones.

Betts, an accomplished bowler, competed in the 2015 GEICO PBA World Series of Bowling VII in Reno and in the 2017 CP3 PBA Celebrity Invitational in Los Angeles.

The inaugural fundraiser, held in an upscale bowling facility in the shadows of historic Fenway Park, also included a group of Betts’ Red Sox teammates.

EJ Tackett closes in on Xtra Frame Storm Cup points bonus

Even though he hasn’t won a PBA Xtra Frame Tour title in 2017, EJ Tackett‘s four top-five finishes in last five events (and a 10th-place finish in the other event) have brought him to the brink of winning the $20,000 bonus as the 2017 PBA Xtra Frame Storm Cup points champion.

Heading into this weekend’s PBA Xtra Frame Kenn-Feld Group Classic at Pla-Mor Lanes in Coldwater, Ohio, Tackett (above) has accumulated 83 points thus far. There are only three players who have mathematical chances to catch him: England’s Dom Barrett with 74 points, Marshall Kent of Yakima, Wash., with 69 and Dick Allen of Columbia, S.C., with 68.

Fifth-place is also up for grabs, with XF Gene Carter’s Pro Shop Classic winner Sean Rash of Montgomery, Ill., currently holding that spot with 54 points.

In the Xtra Frame Storm Cup series, 25 points are awarded to each tournament winner, 19 to second place, 18 to third, etc. through 20th place. Even one point is valuable because there is significant bonus prize money at stake. In addition to the $20,000 bonus to the points winner, the other top-five finishers will earn $10,000, $8,000, $7,000 and $5,000 respectively.

The points leaders heading into this weekend includes the following:
1, EJ Tackett, Huntington, Ind., 83
2, Dom Barrett, England, 74
3, Marshall Kent, Yakima, Wash., 69
4, Dick Allen, Columbia, S.C., 68
5, Sean Rash, Montgomery, Ill., 54
6, Tom Daugherty, Riverview, Fla., 49
7, Josh Blanchard, Mesa, Ariz., 47
8, Ryan Ciminelli, Cheektowaga, N.Y., 45
9, Anthony Simonsen, Austin, Texas, 39
10 (tie), AJ Johnson, Oswego, Ill., and Tommy Jones, Simpsonville, S.C., 37
12, Shota Kawazoe, Japan, 36
13, Kyle Troup, Taylorsville, N.C., 32
14, Bill O’Neill, Langhorne, Pa., 28
15 (tie), Francois Lavoie, Canada, and Rhino Page, Orlando, Fla., 27
17, Cristian Azcona, Lake Wales, Fla., 26
18, Ildemaro Ruiz, Venezuela, 25

Also as a final reminder, PBA fans are still eligible for Xtra Frame’s special $2.99 three-day subscription rate for the Coldwater, Ohio Xtra Frame Tour season-finale.

In addition, fans can follow real-time results for PBA50, PBA Xtra Frame Tour and all PBA Regional events by downloading the new PBA app on Apple devices or by visiting the “live scoring” feature on pba.com.

PBA stars competing in World Bowling Tour Malmö

In addition to the Xtra Frame Kenn-Feld Group Classic in Coldwater, Ohio, another group of PBA stars are competing abroad in the PBA International-World Bowling Tour Malmö (also known as the Lucky Larsen Masters) at Baltiska Bowlinghallen in Malmo, Sweden. First prize will be roughly $19,850 plus a PBA Tour title if the winner is a PBA member.

Among the PBA Tour regulars competing include champions Martin Larsen, Thomas Larsen, Stuart Williams, Osku Palermaa, Jesper Svensson, Francois Lavoie, Anthony Simonsen and Cameron Weier.

From an original field of approximately 465 players who began competition on Aug. 13, a field of 44 players will enter the final day of competition on Sunday which will culminate with the top four advancing to the stepladder finals.

PBA fans can monitor the results online or watch the Swedish live stream for 49kr (Swedish Kronor), which converts to roughly US$6.

PBA50 stars shine in World Senior Championships

PBA50 stars Parker Bohn III, Ron Mohr, Bob Learn Jr. and Lennie Boresch Jr. dominated the World Bowling Senior Championships held last week at Dream Bowl Palace in Munich, Germany, winning gold medals in every event. The U.S. women’s team added gold in every event except doubles.

Pictured above from left: Lennie Boresch Jr., Ron Mohr, Bob Learn Jr. and Parker Bohn III.

In men’s singles, Mohr won gold with Boresch and Bohn adding bronze medals. Bohn and Learn won gold in doubles, defeating silver-medalists Boresch and Mohr. Mohr won all-events, and Bohn won the masters title. The U.S. stars also won the four-man team title.

In the women’s competition, Lynda Barnes (wife of PBA star Chris Barnes) won singles, masters and team gold medals, a silver in all-events and a bronze medal with Carolyn Dorin-Ballard in doubles. Leanne Hulsenberg won all-events, silver in singles and doubles (with Tish Johnson) and bronze in masters. Dorin-Ballard, the wife of PBA Hall of Famer Del Ballard Jr. and manager of the PBA League’s New York City WTT KingPins, also won a bronze medal in the masters event.

PBA Regional Update: Dean Richards wins Husted family event

Dean Richards of Tacoma, Wash., posted a 7-5 match play record and a 20-game total of 4,876 pins Sunday to win his fourth PBA Regional title in the 38th annual PBA Dave Husted Northwest Open presented by 900 Global at Husted’s Milwaukie Bowl in Milwaukie, Ore.

Richards, who earned $2,000, defeated Cameron Weier of Tacoma, Wash., by 99 pins for the win. Weier had an 8-4 match play record and 4,776 pins for his 20 games, including match play bonus pins.

The tournament, hosted by the Husted family at Milwaukie Bowl, is the longest running regional in the PBA.

Former PBA member Clint Land of Houston out-dueled the non-champion field to win the PBA’s Bowling Dynamix Houston Emerald Bowl Challenge Sunday in his hometown after Anggie Ramirez (right) of Colombia, now living in Austin, Texas topped the PBA-PWBA Houston Emerald Bowl Southwest Women’s Open field on Saturday.

Land, who finished the 21-game tournament with a 6-2 match play record and 4,620 total pins, started the modified eight-game round-robin finals with a 20-pin lead. With four games to go, only 85 pins separated the top 10 places.

Land jumped to the top of the leaderboard by winning his last three matches with scores of 258, 213 and 241 to claim the $2,000 first place check. Anthony Coats from Pflugerville, Texas, finished second with 4,472 total pins.

On Saturday, Ramirez, started the eight-game women’s event with a 247 game and never looked back as she coasted to the win with 1,709 total pins, topping amateur Ashley Lawley of Friendswood, Texas, by 144 pins. Ramirez earned $1,000 while Lawley collected $360.

Closing out the August schedule will be the PBA60 Wilson & Sons Super Senior Open presented by the Mooresville Convention and Visitors Bureau Aug. 31-Sept. 2 at George Pappas’ Victory Lanes in Mooresville, N.C., followed immediately by the PBA50 Samuel Adams South Open presented by the Mooresville Convention and Visitors Bureau at George Pappas’ Victory Lanes in Mooresville, N.C.

The Labor Day weekend calendar of PBA Regional action includes the PBA50 Strike Zone Open presented by Track in Pottsville, Pa.; the Tony Reyes Memorial Member/Non-Member Doubles at Fourth Street Bowl in San Jose, Calif.; the Illinois Valley Midwest Open at IV Super Bowl in Peru, Ill., and the DHC Japan PBA Doubles Open, Japan Cheetah Masters and Japan Cheetah Queens at Nagoya Grand Bowl in Nagoya, Japan.

For complete PBA Regional schedules, rules and entry information, click here to find the event(s) in your area.

Quick Notes

The PBA has been informed that long-time member Greg Rottengen of Washington, N.J., a veteran of nearly 250 PBA national and regional tournaments, died Tuesday at the age of 74. No additional information was immediately available.

Shawn Maldonado and Dolores Rodriguez are the parents of a baby girl, Mia Bella Maldonado, born on August 14.