PBA REGIONAL TOUR RECAP – DOUGHTERY III AND FORERO FIND A WAY TO THE FINALS IN FORT MYERS
MARCH 10, 2022 CHASE KAUFMAN
Story And Photo Courtesy Of PBA.Com.
Ft. Myers - - - As the PBA continues its journey through the heart of the schedule, the Regional Tour rolls right alongside. This past weekend, Fort Myers, Florida, and Canton, Ohio held the Strike Zone Lanes Central Classic and the Lightning Strikes Challenge, respectively. The Fort Myers tournaments opened their doors to non-champions in the PBA and PBA50 events, while the Canton event hosted many familiar PBA50 faces.
SOUTH REGION
PBA50 Lightning Strikes Challenge (Non-Champions)
Down in the Sunshine State, owner of Lightning Strikes Bowl Robert Eddy hosted two spectacular events where the Del Ballard pattern wasn’t as amicable as the Petraglia pattern was up north in Ohio. Just 10 players finished plus for their seven-game block, while just 16 averaged over 190. A 190 pace turned out to be the goal for many, as Jerry Johnson established himself as the cut line at -55, averaging 192. Others such as Ralph Brunt Jr. made it look effortless, leading the field of 54 on Saturday by going +221, over 100 pins higher than second-place Joe Scarborough.
The top bowlers came back the next day to duke it out in a 16-man bracket decided by best-two-out-of-three-game matches, until the final round where one game determined the champion. After winning his first matchup, David Branch faced the one-seeded Brunt in a close match. Branch dropped game 1, but the Florida native came back to win the next two games, 233-224 and 208-186.
In his semifinal matchup, Branch made it a bit easier on himself, winning 231-180 and 180-156. In the other half of the bracket, John Dougherty III stormed through his matches, dropping just one of his nine games while never shooting a game under 204. When Branch and Doughtery met in the finals, Doughtery continued his torrid pace, shooting a 224 to Branch’s 137. Along with the $1,500 in prize money, Dougherty also claimed his first regional title and a banner to go with it.
PBA50 Lightning Strikes Challenge Final Standings
- John Doughtery III, $1,500
- David Branch, $1,000
- Jonathan Cross, $875
- Jon Rakoski, $875
PBA Lightning Strikes Challenge (Non-Champions)
Meanwhile, the “kids” event rolled on at the same time. Making the approximately three-hour trek from Port Richey to Fort Myers, Tyler Shingle took full advantage of his weekend vacation, averaging 240 for seven games to top the leaderboard after day one. As expected, places 2-16 were also littered with Floridians as 75% of the top 16 came from the southern state. Malik Grove and Austin Vogt both set the cut number at +113, but in a tiebreaker, Grove ended up taking the final spot.
In bracket play, Grove made good use of that final spot, taking out one-seeded Shingle in the first round. However, in the next round, Grove dropped his match to Evan Baranecky, and in turn, Baranecky fell in the semifinals to Charlie Forero. In the bottom half of the bracket, Chris Felker topped Ethan Fiore to advance to the finals. Felker went for 211 but Forero outdid him with a 256 game. Of course, it being a non-champions event, Forero earned the first banner of his career, along with a $1,500 check.
PBA Lightning Strikes Challenge Final Standings
- Charlie Forero, $1,500
- Chris Felker, $1,200
- Ethan Fiore, $1,000
- Evan Baranecky, $1,000
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Breeze Airways To Offer Flights To Those Of You Heading To Nationals - Courtesy Of Beeze Airways.
FORT MYERS, Fla. – Breeze Airways has added two non-stop flight options from the Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW) in Fort Myers to airports in Las Vegas and South Carolina.
The new routes will begin on June 11, 2022, according to the Lee County Port Authority.
The flights will operate to and from RSW to the Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) in Las Vegas, Nevada, and the Charleston International Airport (CHS) in Charleston, South Carolina.
Flights to each destination will operate twice a week on Wednesdays and Saturdays, the airline said.
“We are looking forward to welcoming Breeze Airways, one of the newest airlines in the United States, to Southwest Florida International Airport this summer,” said Ben Siegel, CPA, C.M., executive director of the Lee County Port Authority. “It is outstanding to have a new carrier at RSW, but even more exciting that Breeze will serve Charleston, South Carolina and Las Vegas, which are highly sought destinations by our community.”
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Online Hotel Reservations Update - Courtesy Of Florida State USBC.
IMPORTANT! Online Hotel Reservations - we have received reports from several bowlers that the reservation links to the hotels for the upcoming tournaments are not working. This is likely being caused by older links to our Web site still being reference. As we have the new site up and working, our links have change. To help you out, you can go directly to the new site via http://www.floridastateusbc.com and visit the respective tournament pages; or you can go directly to the tournament pages with these links:
Bob and Connie Peters Mixed Doubles - https://www.floridastateusbc.com/flstate/mixeddoubles
Open Tournament - https://www.floridastateusbc.com/flstate/opentournament
Women's Tournament - https://www.floridastateusbc.com/flstate/statewomens
The hotel links are on those pages, and are working.
We apologize for any confusion this may have caused. If you continue to experience any issues, please contact us here.
Thank you.
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Cobb Wins LTC Shootout On March 6 - Courtesy Of Dennis Bush.
Lehigh Acres, Fl. - - -Congratulations to your newest LTC Sunday Shootout Champ, Scott Cobb. Scott bowled great all day edging out 2nd place finisher Robert Hylton by just 2 pins. 3rd place went to Mr.Run Em On Sundays, Busch Latte spokesman Bradley Stewart. 4th belongs to Turbo John Thomas, 5th belongs to Jennifer Dovers and the last Cash spot today goes to the FMB Ryan Willams. Thanks again All. See you all next Sunday. Sign ups at 10am and we Bowl for score at 11.
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