By NOLAN HUGHES
PBA Communications
PORTLAND, Maine — Jake Peters of the Chicago Hitmen and the Portland Lumberjacks’ Kyle Troup captured titles in the PBA League All-Star Clash and Strike Derby, respectively, Sunday at Bayside Bowl.
PETERS WINS
Peters survived the 10-player eliminator format, where the player who rolled the lowest count was sent packing each round.
Peters defeated Packy Hanrahan of the Portland Lumberjacks in the final round. Hanrahan’s six-count gifted Peters a grand opportunity. He took full advantage to snag the win and $15,000 prize. His Chicago teammates each received $3,000.
The top-scoring player from each team during qualifying advanced to the All-Star Clash. Peters said succeeding against “50 of the best players in the world” to make the All-Star Clash was an honor.
Though Peters used reactive equipment during qualifying, he opted to use a Purple Hammer urethane for the All-Star Clash. His ball reaction faded as the rounds progressed, but he said changing balls wasn’t really an option.
“Urethane is not going to strike as much but it’ll put up a high number and give it a chance,” Peters said. “My plan was to hit the pocket and try to stay alive. You hope that you can get through a few rounds trying to get your feet under you.”
While the raucous BoPo crowd energized the players, they made it difficult for Peters to keep his ball speed down.
“You love to get pumped up with them,” he said. “At the same time, it’s hard to slow down. Slow on that show is still fast.”
With five left-handers on the show, the southpaws saw as much transition as the right-handers. One of those left-handers was Jakob Butturff, who finished fourth.
Butturff replaced his L.A. X teammate Martin Larsen, who suffered a neck injury just before the PBA League. Larsen persevered through the Anthony Division Finals and Strike Derby, but said the pain was worse than ever on the morning of the All-Star Clash.
“I know how hard it is to beat those guys when you’re totally okay,” Larsen said. “To do it injured is just really hard. I wanted to have somebody from my team that is feeling okay to bowl for us.”
Hanrahan, the crowd favorite who had over a dozen family members and friends in attendance, observed the lanes transitioning a few rounds before the finals. He noted how Matt Russo and Jesper Svensson missed left and paid the price with splits.
“I did the same thing,” Hanrahan said of his final shot. “I made the bad miss of left and getting around (the ball) instead of missing in. If I miss in, I probably still hit the pocket, maybe I flat-7 or 7-10 but at least I would have hit the pocket.”
After Hanrahan’s 2-4-7-8 leave, Peters only needed seven pins to lock up the win. His ball almost skidded through the breakpoint, but managed to knock over eight pins and claim the victory.
The 33-year old Peters was selected 15th overall in the PBA League Draft. Peters subbed for the Hitmen in 2019, but this marked his first selection to the PBA League since 2014. He took the responsibility of representing the Hitmen in the All-Star Clash to heart.
“Jason Couch took a chance on me,” Peters said. “I had a chance to sub a couple years ago and it just didn’t go well. I really wanted to do well and put on a show for the team. Going into today, I really wanted to win for the Hitmen more than anything.”
PBA LEAGUE ALL-STAR CLASH PRESENTED BY PABST BLUE RIBBON RESULTS
Round 1 — Ryan Ciminelli X, Mitch Hupé X, Packy Hanrahan X, Jason Sterner X, Matt Russo X, Matt Ogle 9, Jakob Butturff X, Darren Tang 9, Jake Peters X, Jesper Svensson X
Ogle defeated Tang in roll-off, X-X, X-9 — Tang eliminated
Round 2 — Ciminelli X, Hupé X, Hanrahan X, Sterner 9, Russo 9, Ogle X, Butturff X, Peters X, Svensson X
Russo defeated Sterner in roll-off, X-9 — Sterner eliminated
Round 3 — Ciminelli 6, Hupé X, Hanrahan 9, Russo 5, Ogle 9, Butturff 8, Peters X, Svensson 9
Russo eliminated
Round 4 — Ciminelli X, Hupé 6, Hanrahan X, Ogle 9, Butturff X, Peters 7, Svensson X
Hupé eliminated
Round 5 — Ciminelli 9, Hanrahan X, Ogle 9, Butturff X, Peters X, Svensson X
Ogle defeated Ciminelli in roll-off, 9-9, X-8 — Ciminelli eliminated
Round 6 — Hanrahan X, Ogle 9, Butturff X, Peters X, Svensson X
Ogle eliminated
Round 7 — Hanrahan X, Butturff 9, Peters 9, Svensson X
Peters defeated Butturff in roll-off, 8-8, X-9 — Butturff eliminated
Round 8 — Hanrahan X, Peters 9, Svensson 7
Svensson eliminated
Round 9 (Finals) — Hanrahan 6, Peters 8
Hanrahan eliminated
FINAL STANDINGS
- Jake Peters, $15,000 ($3,000 to each teammate and manager)
- Packy Hanrahan, $8,000 ($2,000)
- Jesper Svensson, $1,500 ($1,500)
- Jakob Butturff, $1,250 ($1,250)
- Matt Ogle, $1,000 ($1,000)
- Ryan Ciminelli, $750 ($750)
- Mitch Hupé, $500 ($500)
- Matt Russo, $500 ($500)
- Jason Sterner, $500 ($500)
- Darren Tang, $500 ($500)
STRIKE DERBY
Meanwhile, Troup captured the Strike Derby and the $25,000 prize with a dazzling performance against Matt Ogle.
The greatest showman in bowling put on yet another magnificent performance. The Portland Lumberjack’s twelfth and final strike sent the crowd into a euphoric frenzy.
“These are the moments that we bowl for and live for,” Troup said. “To throw a strike there at the end and just yell at the crowd, I’ve got goosebumps thinking about it.”
The six players who threw the most strikes during the Anthony Division and Carter Division qualifying, respectively, advanced to the Strike Derby. Ogle led the Carter Division with 49 strikes, while Packy Hanrahan paced the Anthony Division with 45.
Troup escaped the opening round against fellow Lumberjack, Wes Malott, on a tiebreaker. He defeated Motown’s Mitch Hupé in the second round, then Hanrahan in the semifinal.
With this being Troup’s third appearance in the Strike Derby, he said he’s gained valuable experience that helped him win the matches. He rotated through an assortment of four balls per lane, while other competitors deployed more limited arsenals. Some of the players who use their thumb, including Matt Russo and Darren Tang, were limited to three balls.
A one-hander without such restrictions was defending champion Andrew Anderson, who made a valiant effort to reclaim his title. He defeated High Roller teammate François Lavoie in the first round and Dallas’ Santtu Tahvanainen in the second round.
In the Carter Division Final, dreadful pin carry plagued his two-minute binge against Ogle. Anderson said there isn’t time to watch pin action in this format, but could tell from the crowd’s reactions that his hits weren’t pretty.
He knew his eight-strike performance stood little chance, especially after Ogle delivered back-to-back messengers on his first two shots.
Ogle earned a first-round bye, then defeated Las Vegas’ Russo before taking down Anderson to reach the finals.
In the championship round, top-seeded Ogle opted to bowl second. He faced a tall order after an early six-bagger propelled Troup to a dozen strikes, but his confidence never wavered.
“I knew he was gonna have at least 10, 11 strikes — 12 was a lot,” Ogle said. “I knew I was gonna get more shots off than him. He takes a little bit more time on the approach. He slides; I plant. I can get off and go on the next one.”
Ogle rallied to reach 11 strikes with 20 seconds to go, but a miss right and a pesky 10-pin stifled his furious comeback attempt. Though he tied Troup with a twelfth strike on his final shot, he couldn’t match Troup’s longest string and lost via tiebreaker.
Troup said the win served as redemption following his three-strike, second-round exit in 2021.
He paraded around with the trophy as the Portland crowd put an eponymous spin on Tag Team’s iconic single “Whoomp! (There It Is).”
“I love this environment,” Troup said. “I thrive off of it. As soon as I hear those fans cheer for the first time in Bayside, I’ve gotta do my job and that’s to get the win for Portland.”
PBA STRIKE DERBY PRESENTED BY PABST BLUE RIBBON RESULTS
Round 1
Darren Tang def. Martin Larsen, 10-7
Kyle Troup def. Wes Malott, 9-9 (5-3)
Matt Russo def. Tommy Jones, 8-7
Andrew Anderson def. François Lavoie, 10-10 (6-5)
Round 2
Packy Hanrahan def. Darren Tang, 9-7
Kyle Troup def. Mitch Hupé, 8-6
Matt Ogle def. Matt Russo, 8-5
Andrew Anderson def. Santtu Tahvanainen, 9-5
Round 3 — Division Finals
Kyle Troup def. Packy Hanrahan, 9-5
Matt Ogle def. Andrew Anderson, 10-8
Round 4 — Championship
Kyle Troup def. Matt Ogle, 12-12 (6-5)
FINAL STANDINGS
- Kyle Troup, $25,000
- Matt Ogle, $14,000
- Andrew Anderson, $10,000
- Packy Hanrahan, $10,000
- Santtu Tahvanainen, $4,000
- Mitch Hupé, $4,000
- Matt Russo, $4,000
- Darren Tang, $4,000
- Martin Larsen, $3,000
- François Lavoie, $3,000
- Wes Malott, $3,000
- Tommy Jones $3,000