May 11, 2023 Nolan Hughes

Packy Hanrahan and Mitch Hupé completed their wire-to-wire dominance at the Roth/Holman PBA Doubles Championship presented by Bally’s Dover Casino Resort.

On Thursday afternoon at Mid County Lanes and Entertainment in Middletown, Del., the longtime doubles teammates maintained their lead through 12 games of round-robin match play to earn the No. 1 seed. In the title match of the stepladder finals, Hanrahan and Hupé defeated Sean Rash and Matt Ogle, 223-210.

Hanrahan collected his second title of the season and his career, while Hupé picked up his first career PBA Tour title.

“I felt like it was due,” Hupé said. “I felt like it was going to happen.”

“It was time for the boys to get one,” Hanrahan added.

After a week in which strikes came early and often — Hanrahan came within one pin of the PBA’s 12-game scoring record — the title match turned into a grind.

Competing on dual patterns — 42-foot Roth on the left lane and 38-foot Holman on the right — Rash and Ogle opened with the first five strikes. Transition had been blowing open the left lane, and Rash felt his look starting to go away.

Rash converted a 1-2-7 spare after an errant shot in the sixth frame, but Hanrahan failed to capitalize on the opportunity to take the lead. He left a 4-6-10 in his own sixth frame, ceding control of the match to Ogle and Rash.

After Ogle converted a stone-9, Rash missed a 2-4-5 in the eighth frame. Rash needed a mark in the 10th frame to force Hanrahan to at least double, but missed a 10-pin.

Hanrahan delivered a match-sealing strike to claim the win. He said he has been bowling doubles tournaments with Hupé for at least eight years, dating back to their college days at Wichita State University.

“To share that moment with a guy who I’ve bowled 50, 60, 70 doubles tournaments with, just being able to share that on the biggest stage, it just kind of all pours out of you at once,” Hanrahan said. “You try not to think about winning as much as you can until it actually happens. Being able to step up in the 10th, not only for me but also for one of my best friends — you saw the explosion.”

The opening match of the stepladder finals gifted fans in attendance and watching at home on BowlTV an all-time classic.

Jason Belmonte and Bill O’Neill, who earned the No. 4 seed after entering match play in 12th place, fired 11 combined strikes in the opening match; their only blemish was an O’Neill 2-pin conversion in the third frame.

However, Simonsen threw all three strikes in the 10th frame to defeat the 2018 champs, 280-279.

In the semifinal, Simonsen and Barrett kept pace with Rash and Ogle, with each teams capable of shooting in the 250s entering the final frames. However, Simonsen left a 2-4-8 in the ninth frame and Barrett split in the 10th.

Rash and Ogle moved onto the championship match, their first since winning the Roth/Holman PBA Doubles Championship in 2019, with a 258-208 victory.

Rash has battled a back injury all season, but rehabbed and prepared the last few weeks specifically to be ready for this tournament.

“This was the one that I focused on, to try to be as healthy as I could to get here,” Rash said. “My adrenaline took over for the last couple of games here where I didn't feel anything, then I'm heartbroken. To help Matt try to get to a third title, to try to get another one to add to both of our résumés, literally heartbroken.”

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Belmonte and O’Neill snuck into the stepladder finals following a chaotic conclusion to the position round.

Three teams, separated by just 18 pins, vied for the final spot on the show: Jakob Butturff and Matt Zweig, Sean Lavery-Spahr and Santtu Tahvanainen, and Belmonte and O’Neill, who sat in sixth place entering the position round.

After a strong start, Lavery-Spahr and Tahvanainen fell behind in the match with Belmonte and O’Neill, turning the battle into a two-horse race. Though the teams were not bowling head-to-head, they matched each other strike for strike — and then split for split.

Zweig left and did not convert a 3-4-6-7-10 split in their ninth frame, opening the door for Belmonte to secure the fourth seed.

Moments later, Belmonte left a 2-8-10 split in their 10th frame to finish with 241. But the 2018 Roth/Holman Doubles champions beat Lavery-Spahr and Tahvanainen to win their match and the 30 bonus pins.

In the other match, Butturff doubled in the 10th frame to shoot 239. However, Ogle won the match with a strike in his 10th frame, costing the Arizona natives the 30 bonus pins they needed to stay ahead of Belmonte and O’Neill.

Meanwhile, Hanrahan and Hupé had long locked up the top seed.

The two dominated in qualifying, posting the best and ninth-best individual scores for the 12 games. They maintained their lead of more than 200 pins through an additional 12 games of match play, then polished off the championship match with a title-clinching strike.

“I didn’t want anyone else throwing that shot in the whole field,” Hupé said. “I knew he was going to do it.”

“Could you write a better ending than that?”

Championship Round Scores

Match 1: No. 3 Dom Barrett and Anthony Simonsen def. No. 4 Jason Belmonte/Bill O’Neill, 280-279
Match 2: No. 2 Sean Rash and Matt Ogle def. No. 3 Dom Barrett and Anthony Simonsen, 258-208
Championship: No. 1 Packy Hanrahan and Mitch Hupé def. No. 2 Sean Rash and Matt Ogle, 223-210

Final Standings

  1. Packy Hanrahan and Mitch Hupé, $20,000
  2. Sean Rash and Matt Ogle, $11,000
  3. Dom Barrett and Anthony Simonsen, $8,000
  4. Jason Belmonte and Bill O’Neill, $7,000
  5. Jakob Butturff and Matt Zweig, $5,500
  6. Sean Lavery-Spahr and Santtu Tahvanainen, $5,100
  7. Matt Kuba and Michael Davidson, $4,800
  8. Benjy Martinez and Nate Stubler, $4,500
  9. Andrew Anderson and Kris Prather, $4,200
  10. Cortez Schenck and Michael Fitzgerald, $3,900
  11. Brad Miller and Kyle Sherman, $3,700
  12. Kyle Troup and Jesper Svensson, $3,500

More information on the Roth/Holman PBA Doubles Championship presented by Bally’s Dover Casino Resort is available here.