Rocio Restrepo grabs first PWBA title at Greater Detroit Open

20 July, 2016

PWBA Tour

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Rocio Restrepo admits her emotions can sometimes get the better of her when she’s on the lanes, but she allowed those strong emotions to drive her to the title of the Professional Women’s Bowling Association Greater Detroit Open.

Restrepo (pictured above) jumped to an early lead against Malaysia’s Sin Li Jane (right), striking in four of her first six frames, on her way to a 217-185 victory at The Ashwaubenon Bowling Alley in Green Bay, Wis.

Restrepo, who edged Sin Li by 28 pins during match play to gain the No. 1 seed for the finals that were televised on CBS Sports Network on Tuesday, claimed her first PWBA title with the victory.

“I’m an emotional person and sometimes that can be bad,” said Restrepo, a Colombia native. “But I felt like I was controlling myself and it actually kept me in the moment. I only have 12 shots to win a title and I have to make it count. I’m excited because I also want to bowl the PWBA Tour Championship.”

With the victory, Restrepo did punch her ticket to the season-ending, 16-player field of the Smithfield PWBA Players Championship, which will take place Sept. 1-4 in Midlothian, Virginia.

“I’ve been working really hard and I felt like it was time,” Restrepo said. “I’ve been looking forward to this year. I just missed at the (Go Bowling PWBA) Players Championship, missed a few spares and it cost me at the end – I really wanted to make that show. These opportunities don’t happen every day, so take them now or you might never see them again.”

The Greater Detroit Open marked Restrepo’s fourth PWBA championship-round appearance and her second as the top seed. She lost to Latvia’s Diana Zavjalova in the title match of the 2015 PWBA Minnesota Open.

“I remembered losing last year in Minnesota; I made good shots but they didn’t fall,” Restrepo said.

“My coaches have been telling me ‘You got this, we believe in you’ but it’s hard to tell yourself that when you are failing and making the little mistakes that cost you. Today, I made two bad shots and I thought it might cost me at some point. But I kept making my spares and kept telling myself to stay in it. I’m excited it finally happened.”

Stefanie Johnson of Grand Prairie, Texas, the 2015 PWBA Rookie of the Year, made her second TV appearance of 2016 in the stepladder’s opening match. She started with strikes in five of her first six frames en route to a 222-181 victory over former Wichita State standout Tannya Roumimper of Indonesia.

In the semifinal match, Johnson had an open frame in the sixth and that proved to be just enough of an opening for Sin Li, a 2016 USBC Queens finalist, to grab a 225-194 victory to set up the title match against Restrepo.

The qualifying, match play and group stepladder rounds of the PWBA Greater Detroit Open took place June 17-18 at Super Bowl in Canton, Mich. The TV stepladder finals were taped for broadcast on June 26 at The Ashwaubenon Bowling Alley in Green Bay, Wisconsin, after the Go Bowling PWBA Players Championship.

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2016 PWBA Tour Schedule & Champions

PWBA Greater Detroit Open – Stepladder Finals

Super Bowl in Canton, Mich., United States (June 16-19, 2016); stepladder finals at The Ashwaubenon Bowling Alley in Green Bay, Wis. (June 26)

Championship Round:
1. Rocio Restrepo, Louisville, Ohio, 217 (1 game), $10,000
2. Sin Li Jane, Malaysia, 410 (2 games), $5,000
3. Stefanie Johnson, Grand Prairie, Texas, 416 (2 games), $3,500
4. Tannya Roumimper, Indonesia, 181 (1 game), $3,000

L-R Rocio Restrepo, Sin Li Jane, Stefanie Johnson and Tannya Roumimper.

Playoff Results:
First Match: No. 3 Johnson def. No. 4 Roumimper, 222-181
Semifinal Match: No. 2 Sin Li def. Johnson, 225-194
Championship: No. 1 Restrepo def. Sin, 217-185.

Herbert Bickel