Kennedy Makes it Two Weeks In a Row while Laubach Wins His 1st at Haja Rose Bowl Major

Published on: March 17, 2017 | Categories: Headliners, Winners Gallery

The PJBT continued its 18th season with a trip to Haja Rose Bowl in Allentown for our 8th Major Event of the Season.  Major events are always exciting because we pay out extra scholarships and the top girls get paid out.  This day was no exception.  We had 76 bowlers competing on this day, including 52 in Scratch and 24 in Handicap.  The bowlers took on the Kegel Eiffel Tower Pattern.  Format for the major was 6 games qualifying, 3 games of match play, and the top 4 advanced to our eliminator style final.  Finals was top 4 bowl 1 game together, low bowler out.  3 Remaining bowlers bowl 1 game, low score out.  Top 2 then bowl each other for the title.

In Scratch, Brian Kennedy, of Philadelphia, PA, continued a extremely hot month of bowling by taking home his 2nd major title in a row!  Kennedy has now won 8 PJBT career titles and 3 this season.  The 3 this season have been over the past month or so.  He won Major #7 in February….won the team tournament last week at Clearview….and now Major #8.  Kennedy is now tied with Andrew Lazarchick for the most titles on the year.  Kennedy survived qualifying with some decent games on a tough pattern.  He had 2 big games of 266 Game 2 and 258 Game 5.  After 6 games of qualifying, Kennedy was at +57 and seeded 3rd.  The top 20 made the cut to the 2nd round and that cut for 6 games was -61.   In Match Play, Kennedy went 2-1 with scratch games of 213, 202, 225.  This helped Kennedy move up to 2nd place in the standings entering the 4 person eliminator final.  Kennedy only trailed tournament leader Ryan Goddard by 16 pins.  In the eliminator final, it was #1 Goddard, #2 Kennedy, #3 Alex Glinski, and #4 Sarah Orensky.  In Elminator 1, Kennedy shot just 170 but survived.  Glinski had 230, Kennedy 170, Goddard 158, and Orensky 149.  Orensky was eliminated and finished 4th.  Eliminator 2 saw Kennedy bowl the high game of 203, while Goddard shot 189 and survived advancing when Glinski shot 183.  Glinski had a dramatic final frame where he needed to double to advance.  He got the first strike but didn’t strike on the 2nd shot…allowing Goddard to advance.  Title match was #1 Goddard vs #2 Kennedy.  This match was another shot-for-shot match that came down to the final shot.  In the end, Kennedy squeaked out a victory over Goddard 200-198.  Kennedy won the top prize of $300 scholarship and Glass Bowling Pin Trophy for his title.

In Handicap, CJ Laubach, competing in just his 1st PJBT event, captured the title.  CJ entered his first PJBT with an average of 77 and 110 pins handicap per game.  He shot games during qualifying of 71, 69, 89, 105, 78, and 112.  With his handicap, he stood at -16 after 6 games.  He was seeded 7th out of 10 advancers to match play.  1st cut for 10th place was -57.  In Match Play, CJ rolled his way to the top of the leaderboard.  He lost his first match shooting 97, but shot 116 with a win and a tournament high 151 with a win to conclude match play.  His big last game…combined with a win….propelled him into the tournament lead by just 16 pins over his older brother Parker Laubach.  In the 4 person final….it was #1 CJ Laubach, #2 Parker Laubach, #3 David Swavely, and #4 Owen Fink.  Eliminator 1 saw Swavely and the 2 Laubach’s survive.  Swavely shot 214, CJ 204, Parker 192, and Owen Fink 187.  Owen finished 4th.  In Eliminator 2, both Laubach’s outlasted Swavely.  CJ shot 193 with handicap, Parker 187, and Swavely 143.  Swavely finished 3rd.  The title match was Laubach vs Laubach….brothers for the title.  This match was close and came down to the end….but CJ defeated Parker 156-142 to take home the title.  CJ Laubach won a $300 scholarship for his title and Glass Bowling Pin Trophy for the win.

On this day, we gave out over $1500 in scholarships including the top 2 Girls in Scratch.  Sarah Orensky & Rebecca Armand earned the top girls scholarship prizes of $50 and $30 a piece.

We had no honor scores on this day so our 300 of $91 carries over to next week’s adult junior event.

Next Week:  PJBT rolls into Leisure Lanes for our 3rd Adult Junior Event of the Season.  We typically have this Leisure Lanes event later in the year, but this season, Leisure Lanes is hosting the Women’s State Tournament for PA starting the week after our event….so we are going to Leisure early this year.  The Adult Junior Event is Sunday, March 19th, at 10:30am.  Preregistering is not required but highly requested online!  As of this update, we had close to 40+ teams signed up.  It is not too late to get signed up….go to the spot here on the site and sign up now!

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