Bowling

MILWAUKEE, Wis. – Nine-year Professional Bowlers Association veteran Chris Loschetter of Avon, Ohio, averaged 250 over 10 games of qualifying Thursday at AMF West to lead the field of 24 players who advanced to Friday’s match play finals in the Lucas Oil PBA Wolf Open. The Wolf Open, bowled on a 32-foot oiling pattern – the shortest ever in the PBA’s collection of “animal” lane conditioning patterns – is the second of four events that compose the GEICO PBA Summer Swing presented by Lucas Oil. In his nine-season career on Tour, Loschetter has yet to win a title, but he has finished second four times and had his best title shot of the 2012-13 season on another short oiling pattern in the Alka Seltzer Cheetah Championship where he finished fourth during the World Series of Bowling in November. On Thursday, Loschetter jumped into the lead in the five-game morning round and added games of 248, 268, 214, 259 and 238 in the evening session for a 10-game total of 2,508 pins, finishing 41 pins ahead of PBA Tour rookie E.J. Tackett of Huntington, Ind. Bill O'Neill of Langhorne, Pa., qualified third with 2,454 pins followed by a pair of left-handers, Patrick Allen of Wesley Chapel, Fla., at 2,445, and Ryan Ciminelli of Cheektowaga, N.Y., with a 2,392 total. After struggling on the longest oiling pattern in PBA history, the 52-foot Lucas Oil Badger Open pattern, earlier in the week at AMF Waukesha, Loschetter was looking forward to attacking the Wolf. “I really felt positive coming into this tournament,” Loschetter said. “I generally get a much better ball reaction on the shorter patterns and struggle a little bit on the longer ones. “Coming into this tournament I admit I was a little rusty, but this is a good confidence-builder. I’m getting sharper with every game so hopefully I’m going in the right direction for the rest of the tournament.” Tackett, 20, is a two-time Junior Team USA member who joined under the pro tour under the organization’s PBA24 low-cost membership program for aspiring young players. The former Indiana Purdue-Ft. Wayne student converted to full-time membership prior to the Detroit Winter Swing. His best finish in professional competition was 20th place in the 2011 U.S. Open in North Brunswick, N.J. “I’m not surprised I’ve done so well this week,” Tackett said. “I’ve always bowled well on the shorter patterns in Junior Gold tournaments and such. I was a little worried about this pattern only being 32 feet long, but after practice, I thought I’d be all right.” The short Wolf pattern proved to be a significant challenge for some of the PBA Tour’s most prominent power players, however. Missing the cut to match play finalists were Player of the Year contenders Sean Rash of Montgomery, Ill., who finished qualifying in 54th place and Australia’s Jason Belmonte, who finished 69th in the 90-player field. Following Thursday’s Wolf Open match play rounds, the GEICO PBA Summer Swing moves to AMF Bowlero in nearby Wauwatosa for the Lucas Oil Bear Open, the final qualifying leg leading into the Lucas Oil Milwaukee Open May 29-30, also at AMF Bowlero. The Milwaukee Open will feature the top 28 qualifiers based on total pinfall after 30 qualifying games from the Badger, Wolf and Bear “animal pattern” events. After 20 of the 30 animal pattern qualifying games, O'Neill led the Milwaukee Open qualifiers with a 4,821 total, 111 pins ahead of Anthony LaCaze of Melrose Park, Ill. Stepladder finals for all four tournaments, plus the GEICO Summer King of the Swing special event, will be taped over two days by the CBS Sports Network June 1-2 at Bowlero for airing on five consecutive Tuesdays at 7 p.m. ET beginning June 11. The GEICO Summer King of the Swing will include the four Summer Swing event champions plus the next highest points leader who hasn’t won a title. Those five will compete in a $25,000 stepladder final for a $10,000 first prize, concluding the summer series on June 2. LUCAS OIL PBA WOLF OPEN AMF West, Milw

The 90-player GEICO PBA Summer Swing field moved to AMF West Lanes in Greenfield, Wis. for this morning’s first five-game qualifying round of the Lucas Oil Wolf Open and are returning to a synthetic lane surface on the new PBA 32-foot Wolf lane conditioning pattern. Looking for his first PBA Tour win, veteran Chris Loschetter of Avon, Ohio, leads after the first round with a 1,281 pinfall total. He had games of 268, 259, 279, 247 and 228. In a nine-season career on Tour, Loschetter has finished second four times and his best finish so far this season was a fourth in the Alka Seltzer Cheetah Championship at the World Series of Bowling. After struggling on the long oil pattern in the recent Lucas Oil Badger Open, Loschetter was looking forward to the shorter Wolf oil pattern. “I really felt positive coming into this tournament,” Loschetter said. “I generally get a much better ball reaction on the shorter patterns and struggle a little bit on the longer ones. “Coming into this tournament I admit I was a little rusty but this is a good confidence builder and I’m getting sharper with every game so hopefully I’m going in the right direction for the rest of the tournament.” Rounding out the top five after the first round are: E.J. Hacket, Huntington, Ind., 1,261; Patrick Allen, Wesley Chapel, Fla., 1235; Bill O’Neill, Langhorne, Pa., 1,234, and Dino Castillo, Carrollton, Texas, 1,216. The 90-player field will bowl another five game qualifying round this afternoon at 5:30 p.m. after which the top 24 will be determined for Friday’s match play rounds. The Lucas Oil Bear Open follows Sunday through Tuesday at AMF Bowlero, followed by the Lucas Oil Milwaukee Open May 29-30, also at AMF Bowlero. The Milwaukee Open will feature the top 28 qualifiers based on total pinfall after 30 qualifying games from the three animal pattern events. Stepladder finals for all four tournaments, plus the GEICO Summer King of the Swing special event, will be taped over two days by the CBS Sports Network June 1-2 at Bowlero for airing on five consecutive Tuesdays at 7 p.m. ET beginning June 11. The Badger Open stepladder finals will be conducted on June 1 at 11 a.m., the Wolf Open at 2:30 p.m. and the Bear Open at 6 p.m. on June 1. The GEICO Summer King of the Swing will include the four Summer Swing event champions plus the next highest points leader who hasn’t won a title. Those five will compete in a $25,000 stepladder final for a $10,000 first prize, concluding the summer series on June 2. QUALIFYING ROUND ONE (after 5 games; top 24 after 10 games advance to round robin match play Friday at 11 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.) LUCAS OIL PBA WOLF OPEN AMF West, Milwaukee, Wis., May 23 1, Chris Loschetter, Avon, Ohio, 1,281. 2, E.J. Tackett, Huntington, Ind., 1,261. 3, Patrick Allen, Wesley Chapel, Fla., 1,235. 4, Bill O'Neill, Langhorne, Pa., 1,234. 5, Dino Castillo, Carrollton, Texas, 1,216. 6, Ryan Ciminelli, Cheektowaga, N.Y., 1,206. 7, Chris Barnes, Double Oak, Texas, 1,203. 8, Dan MacLelland, Canada, 1,194. 9, Josh Blanchard, Gilbert, Ariz., 1,193. 10, Mike Fagan, Dallas, 1,191. 11, Andres Gomez, Colombia, 1,182. 12, Norm Duke, Clermont, Fla., 1,177. 13, Jason Sterner, McDonough, Ga., 1,176. 14, Randy Weiss, Columbia, S.C., 1,170. 15, Kenneth Kempf, Appleton, Wis., 1,168. 16, Nathan Bohr, Wichita, Kan., 1,157. 17, Pete Weber, St. Ann, Mo., 1,153. 18, Anthony LaCaze, Melrose Park, Ill., 1,149. 19, Osku Palermaa, Finland, 1,148. 20, William Guszczo, Orland Park, Ill., 1,147. 21, Walter Ray Williams Jr., Ocala, Fla., 1,141. 22, Michael Haugen Jr., Phoenix, 1,137. 23, Patrick Girard, Canada, 1,135. 23, John Szczerbinski, North Tonawanda, N.Y., 1,135. 25, Brett Cunningham, Clay, N.Y., 1,133. 26, David Labinski, Milwaukee, 1,128. 27, Tom Smallwood, Saginaw, Mich., 1,114. 28, Missy Parkin, Laguna Hills, Calif., 1,113. 29, Eugene McCune, Munster, Ind., 1,111. 30, Mika Koivuni

Just wanted to note that the summer links transition in the “Author’s links” sidebar section is complete, with the Wed. Summer Mixed standings and BowlSK index added, and the winter league-related links removed.

With the Mojave Conference season complete, we now have our first 40 bowlers eligible for the 2013 Touring Players Championship! 40 more from each conference (minus overlaps) will qualify after each Invitational, and anyone in the top 60 in all-conference points will be added in after the last Invitational. Check out all the full statistics at the website, but here's the Mojave qualifier list: Acuff, Derek Atkin, Alexis Bouder, Zahn Butturff, Jakob Canfield, Ben Cardines, Cerell Cardines, Jeremy Carlson, Megan Chan, Oscar Dang, Anthony Evans, Marguerite Finkler, Kevin Franz, Joshua Galvan, David Gerencser, Joe Glazer, Leah Hatchett, Eric Hendrickson, Talon Leong, Dallas Lindeman, Curtis Lindsey, Brendan Lucente, Teddy Lusher, Donovin Myers, Mark Nagamine, Casey Pappas, Jason Peyton, Jamison Pineda, Crystalene Pollak, Nick Rock, TJ Russom, Brandon Satter, Tyler Schenck, Cortez Smith, Cameron Speiler, Randi Thompson, Austin Varholdt, Danny Watanabe, Alex Watkins, Aaron Weis, Gabriella

My Week 2 bowling, frame-by-frame (Linked to BowlSK sheet) My big problem was not stringing strikes together tonight, but, where I only missed one spare that wasn’t a split or washout, my spare game mostly saved me. Particularly, I left seven 10 pins tonight, and didn’t miss (the easy miss was a single 7). Result: 179-184-167=530 Average (6 games): 170 Next week’s AVG+1 score: 516 Mike joined us tonight, but two of us couldn’t repeat last week, so we were crushed in two of the games, winning only the second.

Here's the first of many videos from this weekend... will Jamison shoot his first 300? Check all our videos out at YouTube today! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw3RHubzjCQJBT at Texas 5-18-13 Jamison Peyton front 10 (junior pro bowwww.youtube.comWill Jamison shoot his first 300?

Ever-evolving technology continues to provide new-and-improved ways for bowling fans to follow the Professional Bowlers Association, live in real time. One of the special features that more and more fans are discovering is the live frame-by-frame coverage of PBA Tour events on pba.com, the PBA’s official website. A function of the live scoring includes mapping of pin leaves, which provides fans with a way to follow the action as it happens in a way never before available. It’s more comprehensive than even television or radio could possibly provide. To experience the depth of detail, visit pba.com during the next live round of coverage (especially during match play rounds), click on the “live scoring” link and then open the “live links” to specific players or matches. Live scoring on pba.com is free, and provides a great supplement to the live online video coverage and commentary provided by the PBA’s subscription-based bowling channel, Xtra Frame. The next rounds of PBA Tour competition on pba.com will include the GEICO PBA Summer Swing’s Lucas Oil Wolf Open qualifying rounds Thursday at noon and 6 p.m. ET followed by round-robin match play rounds Friday at 11 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. ET. NEW MULTI-PLAYER VERSION OF PBA BOWLING CHALLENGE NOW AVAILABLE Concrete Software, developers of PBA Bowling Challenge, one of the most popular electronic games for mobile device users, has launched a new multi-player version on Google Play that allows users to play against each other. The new multi-player version was announced at Google’s annual developers’ conference, Google I/O. Following an outstanding initial release in 2012, leading to over 2.8 million downloads and a rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars on the Google Play store, the long-awaited multi-player update to PBA Bowling Challenge has arrived. "Multi-player was the obvious next step for the title," said Keith Pichelman, CEO of Concrete Software. "It was by far the most user-requested feature and something we had intended to include from the beginning, but finding a multi-player service that would meet our needs proved to be difficult. We were very fortunate that the release of Google Play game services happened to coincide with our plans for the game. We were able to integrate quickly and easily with their services to give our users the ability to bowl in one-on-one, real-time matches against their friends." In addition to multiplayer functionality, the integration of Google Play game services will provide Concrete Software with other features, such as cloud saving, that will be incorporated into future updates to PBA Bowling Challenge, Pichelman said. The new version is available at Google Play. BARNES, WEBER TO PARTICIPATE IN CHRIS PAUL CELEBRITY EVENTS PBA stars Chris Barnes and Pete Weber have been invited to participate in Chris Paul's Celebrity Poker Tournament at Club Nokia/LA on July 7 and the Chris Paul Celebrity Golf Classic benefitting CP3 Foundation at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, Calif., on July 8. Both events are fundraisers for the NBA all-star point guard’s charitable foundation, which he founded in 2005 in memory of his late grandfather. Paul, the owner of the L.A. X team in the new PBA League and host of the annual Chris Paul Celebrity All-Stars bowling event, is a two-time winner of the National Basketball Association’s Community Assist Award for his numerous charitable programs. For more information on his community efforts, as well as the upcoming golf and poker events, visit cp3foundation.org. NO 900 FOR BILL O’NEILL Bill O’Neill admitted visions of duplicating Joe Scarborough’s 900 series danced into his head, but not until after the fact. The four-time PBA Tour titlist from Langhorne, Pa., kicked off the PBA Lucas Oil Badger Open, the first event in the GEICO PBA Summer Swing presented by Lucas Oil, with 21 consecutive strikes before leaving a solid 8 pin on the new, untested 52-foot Badger lane conditioning pattern on natural wood l

3239 N. Clark St.

Pac NW points are now updated through Sunset. There are some incredibly close races for Bowler of The Year, Invite byes, Invite eligibility, and TPC eligibility. The season finale at Kenmore and Pac NW Invitational the day after at Kenmore will be awesome- you have a month to make plans to bring your 25 closest bowling friends and you there! Thoughts / predictions on the point races? http://www.juniorbowlerstour.com/013_pnw_points.htm013 PNW Pointswww.juniorbowlerstour.comThe top 32 point scorers after the last regular season event qualify for the 2013 Pacific Northwest Invitational tournament, featuring a $1,000 top scholarship prize.