August 7, 2024 Nolan Hughes

With two games left of match play in the inaugural PBA/PBA50/PWBA Jonesboro Trios, the team of François Lavoie, Tom Hess and Breanna Clemmer reached their watershed moment.

Following four consecutive games of 205 or worse, including a dismal 161 in Game 13, the trio had dropped beneath the cut to the stepladder finals. They entered a pseudo-position round against Brian Robinson, Dan Knowlton and Danielle McEwan, who sat 18 pins ahead in fifth place.

By now, you know what happened next.

Lavoie, Hess and Clemmer shot 235 in Game 15 to move up into fourth place, then 208 in the position round to secure the No. 4 seed for the championship round.

They then climbed the stepladder, shooting games of 237, 233, 232 and 224 to win the first title event featuring all three professional bowling tours.

If you’re expecting insight into the team’s momentous huddle that flipped momentum and propelled them to the title, you’re about to be disappointed. 

Lavoie, Hess and Clemmer simply went to work. They averaged 228.17 for those six games, more than 20 pins better than the field average and all on lanes 17-18.

Instant Chemistry 

 

The trio came together after each qualifying fourth in their respective divisions.

On paper — with a three-time major champion in Lavoie, a PWBA champion with record-setting striking prowess and a PBA50 Hall of Famer in his prime in Hess — the team looked like a top threat to win the title.

In practice, their cohesive mix of personalities and comparable physical styles allowed the team to gel almost instantly.

“Frankie is a little bit more on the reserved side. Tom's the really fiery one, and I'm kind of in between,” Clemmer said. “I think that worked out really well. We communicated really well.”

“Frankie and I bowled together a lot (on the PBA Tour) so we kind of know each other's games,” Hess said. “We believed in what our teammates were telling us and believed that we could go make the shot that we needed to make.”

“We were really good at trusting each other, trusting that we all know how to bowl. We knew that going in,” Lavoie said. “Tom has been bowling unbelievably on the PBA50 Tour. Breanna is a great bowler and she has been for a long time. We just trusted each other that we were all going to figure it out.”

Trust in each other.

The champions hammered that point home after their win, to the point where semantic satiation started to set in, but they truly meant it. 

As the higher seeds for the opening match of the stepladder, the trio had lane choice. Clemmer said Lavoie and Hess preferred the left lane, but said she felt more comfortable on the right lane. Without hesitation, she said Lavoie and Hess chose the right lane.

"I was not really confident on the left lane," Clemmer said. "Tom said, 'Let her strike on 18 and we'll move into where we need to be.' I was really, really thankful for that because I felt more comfortable."

Lavoie and Hess trusted Clemmer and she delivered: She struck on all three of her shots as they cruised to a 237-193 win.

Lower Scores, Greater Rewards

 

The past two seasons have not been fun for the Canadian.

The three-time major champion ranked 37th in points in 2023, before dropping to 50th this season. He notched one top-25 individual finish in 2024, a 25th-place performance in the TOC.

“The rev rates are so high and the angles we've had to play have been super open,” Lavoie said of his struggles on tour. “Number one, it's hard to keep up with the really high rev rate one-handers and all the two-handers doing that. Number two, if I do hit the pocket, chances are I'm going to leave a flat-10 here and there and so I'm not really going to carry as much as them.”

Lavoie is a finesse player; he is never going to have a rev rate like EJ Tackett or natural ball speed like Kevin McCune or lofting capabilities like Marshall Kent.

If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em doesn’t apply here.

“My physical game took a hit because I was doing things to subconsciously try to make the ball hook,” Lavoie said. “You don't really want to do that; you just want to let the ball do the work. I started realizing that and I've been consciously trying to just let the ball roll down my hand, just go back to what I was good at. I did that really well (this week).”

Hijinx Entertainment Center, the same venue where Lavoie won the 2017 PBA Xtra Frame Greater Jonesboro Open, often yields a lower scoring pace. The 31-year-old felt right at home.

“This tournament was a little bit tougher, scores were a little bit lower and that usually plays to my advantage,” he said.

EJ Tackett led all players with a 66.67% strike percentage during baker trios competition. Only six players struck on at least 60% of their shots.

For context, Lavoie struck on 62% of his shots in the World Series of Bowling XV earlier this season… and finished 49th in the World Championship.

Lavoie has a propensity for turning up his game when the stakes are highest: He shot a televised 300 en route to winning one of his two U.S. Open titles; he also averaged 228.5 to climb a TOC stepladder featuring Sean Rash, Jesper Svensson, Jason Belmonte and Anthony Simonsen.

In the Jonesboro Trios stepladder finals, Lavoie struck at a 65.22% clip — including a win-or-go-home double in the 10th of the semifinal match — to win his sixth career title and first since that 2021 TOC victory.

She’s Back

 

Through her first three seasons on the PWBA Tour, Clemmer won just one title. She has been on a mission to return to the winner’s circle.

For 99.99% of players, the phrase “just one title” is an absurd and unfair; Clemmer is perhaps an exception.

She spent two years on Developmental Junior Team USA, followed by five consecutive years on Junior Team USA, followed by six consecutive and ongoing years on Team USA while winning gold medals at every stage. A few more bullets on her résumé:

Two-time Junior Gold champion. Teen Masters champion. Two-time U.S. Amateur champion. Intercollegiate Singles Championships winner. Intercollegiate Team Championships winner. NCAA champion. Collegiate Rookie of the Year. Four-time DII/DIII Collegiate Player of the Year. (The list goes on.)

When Clemmer starts striking, there are few players who can keep up. She led all PWBA players (and ranked 12th overall) in baker trios games with a 54.93% strike percentage, which was nearly five points better than the next-best PWBA player.

For those familiar with Clemmer’s game, those numbers won't surprise you. She once finished a PWBA Tour block with games of 289, 300, 300 and 279, racking up 29 strikes in a row and 45 of 48 possible strikes, to set a PWBA scoring record.

Clemmer knows what she’s capable of at her best, which is why her emotions were palpable in the aftermath of their victory on Saturday.

“I went to Team USA camp (in late April) and at the end, I couldn’t walk,” said Clemmer, who shared she was diagnosed with a stress fracture in her foot on April 29. “The doctor said ‘You're going to be out for a month, probably longer. Be prepared to be out for six months.’”

With the first PWBA Tour event mere days away, that news hit like a rock. But Clemmer’s foot healed faster than anticipated and she was cleared to bowl on May 23.

Less than four weeks later, she finished third in the U.S. Women’s Open. 

Now, just over three months after thinking her season was over, she finally brought home that coveted second title.

“Winning two (titles) means that you belong out here,” she said. “For so long, I was like, ‘Man I think I'm more than — I know I'm more than one title, but I'm just not showing it.’

“Honestly, this is the best my game has ever been,” she added. “I really feel like the old Breanna that I've been looking for for a couple years. To get up and do the things that I did tonight, it just reminds me: She's back. She's here.”

“PBA50 Tom”

 

Since the day he joined the PBA50 Tour in 2021, Hess has been the tour’s shining star, so much so that his accolades on the senior tour earned him a home in the PBA Hall of Fame. But the Iowa native always feels he has something to prove.

“I've been hard on myself here the last couple of weeks. Everybody's making fun of me because I say I’m going through a slump because I didn't cash one week,” Hess admitted.

The win in Jonesboro marked Hess’ fourth title of the 2024 season, tying John Janawicz for the most on the PBA50 Tour. He knows, however, that in all likelihood he will not be able to make up the 10,000-point gap between himself and Janawicz to win Player of the Year.

Nonetheless, Hess relishes every chance he can to celebrate.

“The PBA50 Tour has been a rebirth for me,” Hess said. “I wasn't having fun at the end of the kid’s tour. It's hard out there. Those guys are so good. You're going in every week almost behind the eight-ball before you load up the car to go. I've been able to come out (on the PBA50 Tour), relax, have fun and enjoy it.

“I don't want to be cliche, but dreams do come true. I’ve got nine PBA50 Tour titles. Nine.”

Hess and Lavoie mimic Clemmer's unique set-up position to celebrate their win