December 1, 2023 Chase Kaufman

With just one month remaining on the 2023 PBA Regional Tour, bowlers are down to their final opportunities to bring home a title this year. Six events took place over the previous two weeks and five more remain before the Regional Players Invitational in January.

Would you be surprised if I told you Walter Ray Williams Jr. earned one of these titles? Probably not. The all-time PBA titles leader on the national and regional tours took home another victory to boost his count to 65 regional and 47 PBA national titles.

Read on to find out who else took home some hardware in this edition of the Regional Recap:

PBA60 Wilson & Sons Pest Control Open

Beginning with one of the few PBA60 tournaments scattered throughout the year, Frank Gallo Jr. started with the lead at Liberty Lanes in Gastonia, N.C. As the one-seed, Gallo won his first two matches against Danny Weikel and Ronald Reitzel. But on the opposite side of the bracket stood a man named Walter Ray Williams Jr., stormed through the bracket by defeating Brian Link and Darryl Bower to get to the finals. 

Gallo started off on the wrong foot in the final match, splitting in the first frame. He was forced to play catch-up from there but couldn't solve some carry issues, with four straight nine-counts in frames four through seven. Meanwhile, Williams stayed clean and won 237-197 to accumulate regional title no. 65.

PBA60 Wilson & Sons Pest Control Open Final Standings

  1. Walter Ray Williams Jr., $2,500
  2. Frank Gallo Jr., $1,200
  3. Darryl Bower, $1,000
  4. Ronald Reitzel, $1,000

PBA60 Wilson & Sons Pest Control Open Full Results

PBA Plaza Lanes Midwest Invitational

 

In a double-dose of Midwest action, the PBA and PBA50 divisions competed on the 42-foot Mark Roth pattern at Plaza Lanes in Illinois. Kevin McCune kicked things off by shooting +246 for his eight games, enough for a 104-pin lead over second. That lead shrunk a bit after the three-game advancer round, but McCune still held on for the one-seed. Bailey Mavrick earned the two-seed, followed by Tim Gruendler and Chris Hill.

Gruendler never got comfortable in the opening match, shooting a 176 and falling to Hill’s 246. Hill doubled early in the following battle, but a split in the seventh frame downed his hopes as Mavrick cruised to a 238-211 win.

The final match was a thriller as both players went back and forth with strikes. Eventually, Mavrick stepped up in the 10th and struck out for a 258 to force McCune to go strike-nine-spare to seal the deal. McCune stepped up and nailed the first shot, but his second shot never made it back hard enough to the pocket as he left the 2-4-5. Mavrick snuck by to win his second career title, 258-257. 

PBA Plaza Lanes Midwest Invitational Final Standings

  1. Bailey Mavrick, $2,000
  2. Kevin McCune, $1,200
  3. Chris Hill, $900
  4. Tim Gruendler, $800

PBA Plaza Lanes Midwest Invitational Full Results

PBA50 Plaza Lanes Midwest Invitational

Staying in the center on the same pattern, Eugene McCune bested his son with +279 for his eight games to take the lead. Tom Adcock sat in second place at +152. Instead of an advancer round, the top eight players each bowled one match to decide the stepladder participants. McCune held onto the one-seed, Brian Kretzer secured the second seed, while Anthony Jovanovich and Scott Rains opened the finals.

The first match was all Jovanovich as he battled for perfection, but he sent the last shot a little wide for a 298. Jovanovich continued the run in the second match as Kretzer opened in back-to-back frames; Jovanovich never relinquished his lead, winning 241-186.

In the finals, both players stayed clean through the first nine frames. McCune needed all three in the 10th to force Jovanovich to double. But a pesky 10-pin only allowed McCune to 226, while Jovanovich shot 257 for his first regional title.

PBA50 Plaza Lanes Midwest Invitational Final Standings

  1. Anthony Jovanovich, $2,100
  2. Eugene McCune, $1,400
  3. Brian Kretzer, $1,050
  4. Scott Rains, $900

PBA50 Plaza Lanes Midwest Invitational Full Results

PBA Monroe Sport Center Central Challenge

 

The weekend's fourth event took place at Monroe Sport Center in Monroe, Mich.  Players competed on the 40-foot Don Johnson pattern for the one-day event, which included a 12-player match-play bracket.

Brett Miller took the one-seed, averaging 227, while Michael Bankert, Jacob Balser, and Tommy Parker III also earned byes for their qualifying efforts. Miller lost in his first match, so Marcus Oien and Parker III fought in the first semifinal match. Parker won that match 190-179, while Balser defeated Matt Roskoski 209-190 in the other semifinal. In the championship match, Balser put on his striking shoes and won 226-206 for $1,500 and his first career title. 

PBA Monroe Sport Center Central Challenge Final Standings

  1. Jacob Balser, $1,500
  2. Tommy Parker, $1,050
  3. Marcus Oien, $850
  4. Matt Roskoski, $850

PBA Monroe Sport Center Central Challenge Full Results

PBA50 Beaumont Southwest Open

 

After stuffing themselves with food on Thanksgiving, 42 contestants bowled at Crossroads Bowling Center in Beaumont, Texas, in hopes of stuffing their pockets with cash. Michael Austin started with the lead at +290 for eight games, but Chris Hibbits II took the lead after the five-game advancer round at +436.

The top eight players moved on and Pete McCordic held the lead at +747 through seven games of match play. With just the position round remaining, Hibbits trailed by just nine pins, while Jeff Atkins also had an outside chance at +673.

But McCordic, a two-time PBA Tour champion and 2023 PBA Hall of Fame inductee, held on with a 225-194 win. This win marks his eighth regional title and first victory since 1992 after 26 years as the Southwest Region tournament director. 

PBA50 Beaumont Southwest Open Final Standings

  1. Pete McCordic, 2,500 points, $2,500
  2. Jeff Atkins, 1,500, $1,600
  3. Chris Hibbits II, 1,150, $1,100
  4. Paul McCordic, 950, $900

PBA50 Beaumont Southwest Open Full Results

PBA Fort Meade Challenge (Non-Champions) presented by Auto Spa Express

For the final event of November, The Lanes Fort Meade in Ft. Meade, Md., hosted 46 non-champions to turn one of them into a champion. Youth bowler Jacob Bockstie smashed the field in qualifying by averaging 246, more than 25 pins better than second place. Joey Royer Jr., Zacary Preston, and Eric Cornog also received a bye for their efforts as the top 12 players headed into the single-elimination bracket. 

Both Cornog and Bockstie fell from the bracket before the semifinals. In the upper half of the bracket, Robert Shine defeated Benjamin Lamb to claim a spot in the finals. Preston defeated Ta’Shawn Jones to take the other berth in the finals. The three-seed Preston took down Shine 216-202 to take the win and $1,500. 

PBA Fort Meade Challenge (Non-Champions) presented by Auto Spa Express

  1. Zacary Preston, $1,500
  2. Robert Shine, $1,000
  3. Ta’Shawn Jones, $775
  4. Benjamin Lamb, $775

PBA Fort Meade Challenge (Non-Champions) presented by Auto Spa Express Final Standings

View the season-long points standings in each region here.