Lazarchick, Peters, and Bohn Win 18th Annual Parker Bohn Scholarship Tournament

The PJBT was honored to be invited and part of the 18th Annual Parker Bohn Scholarship Tournament.  Every year, PBA Hall-Of-Famer, Parker Bohn III, holds his own scholarship tournament for youth at Howell Lanes in Howell, NJ.  Howell was the home bowling center for Parker Bohn as he started his career in bowling.

This event gave out over $10,000 in scholarships this year for the event.  In addition, a couple of thousand dollars were given out Friday Night.  On Friday Night, as a kickoff to the main event, we assisted in conducting the 1st Annual Eliminator and 2nd Annual Doubles Event.  The eliminator had a sellout crowd!  The doubles event had 43 doubles teams competing…a new tournament record.  In the end, Joey Ocello won the eliminator and the doubles title went to Francis Vitelli & Sam Bortnick.

For the Main Event, we had 3 divisions.  Divisions were similar to Junior Gold but men and woman were together.  We had a U20 (Under 20) Division, U15, and U12 Division.  Also, the rules stated that for the girls….they received 7 pins handicap a game.  This is a rule used in international play and they tried it with this year’s event.  Seemed to work out well.  The event had a strong field of 134 entries.  We saw 68 entries compete in U20, 42 bowlers in U15, and 24 in U12.  Format was top 25% after 5 games advance to 4 match play games.  After 9 games, the top 5 advanced to stepladder final.  All competition was on the PBA Viper Pattern.

In the U20, Andrew Lazarchick, of Brick, NJ, took home the title.  Lazarchick shot 1002 for 5 games (+2) and was seeded 5th out of 18 bowlers advancing past the first round.   In match play, Lazarchick went 2-2 with games of 226, 196, 206, and his big final game 266.  Lazarchick was seeded 2nd entering the stepladder final.  In the semi-final, Lazarchick defeated Ryan Carlisi 243-179.  This advanced him into the title match vs tournament leader Andrew Hall.  In the battle of lefties, Lazarchick came out on top.  He defeated Hall 221-189 to take home the title and the top scholarship prize of $1,500!  The top 18 bowlers who made match play split a total prize fund put of $5,000!

In U15, Kamerin Peters, of Toms River, NJ, won the top prize.  Peters shot -72 for 5 games and was seeded 8th out of 10 bowlers entering the match play round.  Peters made her run in match play….going 4-0.  She won every match shooting 192, 197, 189, and 169.  (Each game included her 7 pins handicap).  She boosted up the board to 4th place entering the finals.  Then she walked the ladder!  She first defeated #5 Ryan Taylor 198-138.  In Match two, Peters defeated #3 Anthony Mastroianni 210-135.  In the semi-final, Peters edged out #2 Paige Boyd 185-183.  In the title match, Peters took on tournament leader Alexander Horton.  In a close match, Peters was victorious over Horton 197-189.  Peters won $1,000 top prize and 10 semi-finalists split $3,190 in scholarships.

In U12, Brandon Bohn, son of Parker Bohn III, took home the victory.  Brandon shot 916 for 5 (-84) during qualifying.  He was seeded 2nd out of 6 entering match play.  Bohn went 2-2 in match play shooting games of 122, 160, 208, and 160.  He remained 2nd entering the finals.  He only trailed tournament leader Micah Voorhis.  In the semi-final match, Bohn defeated #3 seed Andrew Kline 153-130.  This advanced Bohn to the title match vs Voorhis.  Voorhis came out of the gate slow and Bohn never looked back.  Bohn defeated Voorhis 175-124 to take home the title.  Bohn won $650 scholarship top prize and the top 6 semi-finalists split $1,850 in scholarships.

All in all….it was a great event and the PJBT thanks Parker Bohn, his wife Leslie Bohn, and their entire staff for allowing us to be part of this event again this year.  It is an honor for all of us.  If you didn’t make it to this year’s event — mark your calendars for labor day weekend in 2017.  This weekend typically is the weekend of the event!