Zimmerman & Laubach Win Final PJBT Event Ever at Bowl-O-Rama — Easter Classic Event Kicked Off With 18 Year Tribute To Center

The PJBT continued its 18th Season with our Traditional Easter Classic Saturday Tournament at Bowl-O-Rama in Reading, PA.  This event, unlike any other year though, brought so much more meaning to the great game we love.  When this event was scheduled almost 9 months ago on our schedule….we were not aware what would really happen on this day.   About a week before this event was to take place, Bowl-O-Rama had announced that they were closing their doors after over 60 years of business near downtown Reading.  Bowl-O-Rama had decided to close their doors and the owners plan to sell out the building and land to Sheetz for a new multi-plex gas station.  When announced, this brought much sadness to the bowling industry.  Bowl-O-Rama was a staple on the PJBT schedule since the inception of our tour in 1999.  Every year, for 18 years, we have had 1-2 events a year at Bowl-O-Rama, including some adult events over the most recent years.

Due to the closing of the center, The PJBT announced that this event would not only be our final event at Bowl-O-Rama but it would be a day of celebration.  The PJBT decided to recognize the center for its service to our organization and represent our past winners throwing out ceremonial first balls.  Before the start of the event, the PJBT had about a 10 minute ceremony honoring the center and its past champions.  The PJBT welcomed back 8 past champions, who were present on this day.  These past champions included Brent Himmelreich, Ryan Wyandt, Christine Haines (on behalf of her brother Cameron Haines), Jack Celmer, Lexi Kile, Alex Glinski, Dylan Zimmerman, and Zachary Prizer.  After a nice ceremony, each bowler thru out a ceremonial first ball and was joined by Pennsylvania State Youth Bowling President Debbie Fields (Kendardine).  Debbie was nice enough to also come out and join us as Debbie is not only the President of PA State Youth for about 30 years but she used to be the Junior League Director at Bowl-O-Rama for many years during the 1990’s and 2000’s in the center.  We thank everyone who came out to honor the 40 lane bowling center.

This day also saw the PJBT pay out Bonus Scholarships for our Easter Classic, being that we also wanted to honor the center.  Bowling Center Manager….Brian Krantz donated Apparel EFX shirts to our champions….and also with the help of Track….donated a CASE (4) Bowling Balls to give away.  We elected to raffle 2 of them off and keep 2 for Championship Weekend.

Now to the bowling!  Format for event was our regular Singles Event Format.  We had 65 bowlers competing on this day….with 33 in Scratch and 32 in Handicap.

Our final Scratch Division Champion has won before in this center!  Dylan Zimmerman of Harrisburg captured his 3rd title of the season and did it in an impressive fashion!  Zimmerman shot qualifying games of 217, 248, 247, 232, and 245 for 1189 or +189.  He was seeded 5th of 14 bowlers advancing to match play.  It was only fitting that after qualifying of our final event at the center….we had A TIE IN BOTH DIVISIONS FOR THE CUT.  14th place cut off score was +67 and Matthew Ward advanced winning the rolloff over Antonio Reyes 40-39.  In Match Play, Zimmerman set a record that may NEVER BE BROKEN.  As of the time of this story, Zimmerman bowled the FINAL YOUTH PERFECT GAME OF 300 IN BOWL-O-RAMA HISTORY.  Zimmerman lost his first match play game shooting 223.  In Game 7, Zimmerman shot a perfect 300 game and won his match to boost up the scoreboard.  He took the tournament lead when he shot 250 in the final game of match play with a win.  After 8 games, Zimmerman was seeded 2nd at +422.  He only trailed tournament leader Jack Celmer at +460.  Zimmerman decided to go out with a memorable story.  Zimmerman took on Cameron Hurwitz in the semi-final match.  He squeaked out a victory over Hurwitz 248-239.  This led the title match to be Zimmerman and Celmer.  Zimmerman started off quick and never looked back.  For the 2nd time this season….Zimmerman had the win locked up late in the game and also had the front 9 for strikes!  In the 10th, he got #10 and #11!  He was 1 strike from another perfect game.  His final shot came up high and left the 4 pin for 299!  Zimmerman won the title defeating Celmer 299-217.  Zimmerman took home the $250 top scholarship prize, a FREE donated Apparel EFX shirt…. and the plaque for his victory.

Our final Handicap Division Champion was Parker Laubach.  Parker picked a great day to win his 1st PJBT title.  Not only is it memorable for being his 1st but also the last winner in Bowl-O-Rama history.  Laubach dominated the event on the day.  He entered the event with a 152 entering average and 43 pins handicap per game.  He shot scratch games of 246, 203, 158, 161, and 190.  He stood at +173 and was the tournament leader entering match play.  The 14th place cut was +26….and Shania Jennings won the tiebreaker rolloff 48-46 to advance over CJ Laubach.  Laubach maintained his lead in match play going 2-1 with games of 175, 166, and 180.  Parker Laubach was at +283 and had a 10 pin lead entering the stepladder final.  In the title match, Laubach took on #2 seed John Garner.  This match came down to the last shot…..but in the end Laubach squeaked out a 170-165 victory over Garner.  Laubach won the $250 top scholarship prize….a FREE Apparel EFX Shirt … and the plaque for his victory.

We had multiple honor scores on this day.  Congrats to Dylan Zimmerman for winning an additional $81 for his Perfect 300 Game.  He also had 299 in the title match as we mentioned earlier.  Other honor scores include Cameron Hurwitz’s 11 in a row 290 game, and Alex Glinski’s 11 in a row 290 Game.

PJBT rolls on next week into our final regular season MAJOR EVENT of the season.  Major #9 is Sunday, April 23rd, at Berks Lanes in Sinking Spring, PA.  Event starts at 10:30am.  Being it’s a MAJOR, we will payout $300 top prize guaranteed and the top female finishers will win scholarships.  Don’t miss it!