By BILL SNIER
PARMA HEIGHTS — There’s one thing clear to Stephanie Zavala during her past success at Yorktown Lanes.
“There are a lot of strikes left in this building,” said the 29-year-old Downey, Calif., right-hander.
Zavala and Malaysia’s Siti Rahman helped prove that point Wednesday, sharing the qualifying lead after the opening 12 games of the PWBA Cleveland Open.
The pair will lead the 16 remaining players from the original 95-player field into Thursday’s opening round-robin match-play round at 9 a.m.
This event is the first of three events during the PWBA Summer Series — Cleveland this week at Yorktown Lanes.
Zavala and Rahman finished with 2,720 total pinfall, averaging 226.67 overall. They were followed by 48-year-old seven-time PWBA winner and Junior Team USA coach Kelly Kulick (2,699); 2024 USBC Queens champion Jillian Martin of Stow (2,666); and Columbia native and Kent resident Rocio Restrepo (2,666).
For Zavala, it meant putting behind a moniker she gave herself as “slow start Stephanie.” After sitting seventh following the opening six qualifying games of the morning block with 1,326, she then added 1,394 in the evening to share the lead.
“My confidence is back,” said Zavala, who won the 2021 Greater Cleveland Open at Yorktown in a year when she won three of her five career titles.
“I think I was playing into it a little too much and I thought it was becoming routine. But I had a conversation with myself that this doesn’t have to be routine … that I don’t always have to come out the gate poorly. Let’s stop making fun of it and let’s fix it and be confident in myself.”
Rahman, a 35-year-old right-hander, didn’t bowl on the PWBA Tour in 2024, instead focusing on competition in Asia. She used the same approach in building up for her return this season.
“The tournaments in Asia really get me ready to come here. You can’t not bowl in competition after a few months or you will get a bit off,” said Rahman, whose lone PWBA title came in 2017 at Wichita, Kan.
“Bowling in Asia is much harder. The transition of the lanes is different because the patterns are tricky. After a few games there, everyone is bowling in different areas of the lanes. Here, everyone is bowling in the same areas so it’s not as hard to adjust because they bowl on the same angles and lines.”
Zavala felt sticking “to my process” was a key in her consistency throughout the day.
“I love coming back to this building … the surface plays really well for me,” said Zavala, who used a combination of the 900 Global Boo-Yah and Storm Physix Blackout throughout the day.
“I kind of played to my strengths and I was able to keep chasing it left and really open up my angles. That really works for me. The first block is always a learning experience to see what works and what doesn’t. I just stayed within myself.”
Rahman, who sat 12th after the opening block with 1,312, had 1,408 (234.6 average) on the night shift — second only to Kuick’s 1,414.
“I made a ball change in the second block that was much better,” said Rahman, who used a combination of the Hammer Hammerhead and Black Widow Mania. “The lanes seemed to be hooking more, but I liked the second block much better.”
But Thursday brings new challenges with two eight-game match-play blocks. Match winners receive 30 bonus pins, with 15 bonus pins for ties.
“I can only think about the person I’m bowling against,” Zavala said. “It will be interesting with less people in the building. I’m not sure the lanes will transition as quickly.”
Rahman sees a marathon ahead in match play.
“I have to bowl game by game and try to put more focus on every shot. Every game is important because you have to win those extra pins,” Rahman said. “It’s going to be a long day … I haven’t bowled 16 games in one day in a long time.”
MAKING THE CUT
Ashly Galante, a 36-year-old Palm Harbor, Fla., right-hander, shot 242 her final game to grab the final match-play spot with 2,570.
Lewis Center right-hander Jen Higgins, who shot 1,285 in the opening round and 1,282 during the night shift, shot 205 her final game, leaving a 4-pin on her second ball in the 10th frame of the final game on a double to fall three pins short at 2,567.
“That stings,” Higgins said in a Facebook post. “Well, onward and upward. Just gonna dig a little deeper for the next Tour stop Friday.”
Also coming up short was opening-round leader Jordan Snodgrass, who averaged 229.3 over the initial six games. The 29-year-old Tipton, Mich., right-hander, who owns five PWBA titles, had just 1,172 during the second shift (195.3 average) to drop to 22nd, missing the cut by 22 pins.
Higgins and Snodgrass were among the cashers not to make match play. Also in that group was 27-year-old Wooster right-hander Karlie Way, who earned the final cash spot in 32nd place overall with 2,515.
“The fact that I made it a cash spot is just crazy,” said Way, who shot 1,198 in the morning shift and stood in a tie for 59th.
But she put up 1,319 on the evening shift (219.8 average) despite a 191 in her final game to share the final spot with Corrine Acuff.
“I just ate some food,” said Way when asked what made the difference. “I knew where I stood. There was a little bit of pressure that 12th game and I was a little tired too. I honestly didn’t throw the ball all that great the last game. I was kind of all over the place.
“But after the first two games of that first block I just calmed down. I told myself these are normal people. We are all bowlers and I’m a bowler so let’s just go up there and do what we know how to do.”
Way is now 2-for-2 in cashing during PWBA events, having cashed in the Pittsburgh Regional in January.
NOTEBOOK: Match play shifts are at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. today at Yorktown Lanes, with eight games in each shift. Following the second round of match play, the field will be cut again to the final five for the stepladder finals, which begin at 7 p.m. The entire tournament is being live-streamed on BowlTV. … The second event of the Summer Series, the PWBA BowlTV Open, will begin qualifying with a 95-player field at 10 a.m. Friday, with another qualifying shift at 5 p.m. … Tickets are available at the door for $15 for individual shirts, $20 for an all-day pass and $28 for the stepladder finals.