Dragovits & Malloy Capture New Year’s Eve Day Titles at Strike Zone

The PJBT continued it’s 16th season with the event that brings us to the mid-point of our season.  This event, #21 of 42 on the year, marks the mid-way point of the season and the New Year’s Holiday.  Every year, it is a traditional event for the PJBT that we roll into Strike Zone Alleys in Pottsville, PA.  With this center only 10 minutes from the home of Tournament Director Matt….it makes the event a kickoff to our New Year’s Eve.  It is a traditional day for Matt of a bowling tournament and a New Year’s Eve party afterward!

With no snow in sight this year….we had a great turnout for this traditional New Year’s Eve Day Event.  82 bowlers, 41 per division, took on the house shot at Strike Zone Alleys.

In Scratch, we saw a dominant performance by Zack Dragovits.  On this day, Zack captured his 2nd title of the season and became just the 2nd Scratch bowler to get his 2nd title of the year.  Zack led the field of 41 scratch bowlers after 5 games of qualifying ….with a score of 1265 or +265.  He also shot 794 for his first 3 games of qualifying.  He extended his lead through match play and led the field by over 100 pins entering the 5 bowler stepladder final.  In the title match, Dragovits took on 2nd seed Michael Bortz.  Dragovits, as he did all day, started off hot and never looked back.  He started the final match with 5 strikes and shot 265 on his way to victory.  Dragovits defeated Bortz in the title match 265-209.  Dragovits took home the title and the $200 top scholarship prize.

In Handicap, we had a first for a bowler with the last name Malloy…..but read this paragraph carefully!  Our champion was Joey Malloy.  Joey won his 1st PJBT career title.  Joey’s route to victory was much different from Dragovits.  Joey qualified in 10th place out of 16 after qualifying.  Joey stood at +55 after 5 games and trailed the leader at the time, Shania Jennings, by almost 50 pins.  However, match play he made up ground.  He won his matches and shot some big games.  This propelled Joey to the 5th and final seed entering the finals.  He had 4 bowlers to beat in 4 straight matches to win….which is what he did.  But pay attention to the names of the bowlers he beat.  In match 1, he took on 4th seed Jocelyn Hood and defeated her 235-170.  In match 2, Joey Malloy had a unique match with Mackenzie Chesko.  Malloy and Chesko ended up in a tie at 177-177!  They went to a 2-frame rolloff and Malloy won the rolloff 50-22 to advance.  In the semi-final, Joey Malloy defeated Corey Rinda 179-174.  This set up the title match between Joey Malloy and tournament leader Jared Malloy.  Your first thought is mine.  Relatives bowling in the final…..but that was not the case!  Joey and Jared had the same last name but were NOT related.  A uniqueness to PJBT we never saw before….2 bowlers, same last name….not related….bowling for the title.  So which Malloy would win?  Joey outlasted Jared in the title match 178-171 to take home the title and the $200 top scholarship prize.

Congrats to our top 8 bowlers in each division who took home a portion of the over $1,300 in scholarships paid out.