From wire reports
HOUSTON – The best of the Professional Women’s Bowling Association and Professional Bowlers Association will come together once again for the 25th edition of the PBA/PWBA Striking Against Breast Cancer Mixed Doubles event at Copperfield Bowl in Houston beginning Thursday.
The sold-out field of 160 teams will begin with practice sessions at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. before the Beauties vs. Beasts event that will combine the top five from each division based on 2024 qualifying results for a Baker-style sprint, with five games determining the winners of the Beauties vs. Beasts before the SABC begins.
The Beauties will feature Stefanie Johnson of McKinney, Texas, Malaysia’s Sin Li Jane, Erin McCarthy of Elkhorn, Neb., Liz Johnson of Niagara Falls, N.Y., and Hope Gramly of Aubrey, Texas, while the Beasts will include Alec Keplinger of Quincy, Mich., Brad Miller of O’Fallon, Mo., Cameron Crowe of Orland Park, Ill., England’s Dom Barrett, and Sean Riccardi of St. Petersburg, Fla.. Teams will be S. Johnson/Keplinger, Sin/Miller, McCarthy/Crowe, L. Johnson/Barrett and Gramly/Riccardi.
Tournament competition starts Friday with A Squad qualifying at 9 a.m. before B Squad takes the lanes at 3 p.m. Qualifying continues Saturday with C Squad at 9 a.m. and D Squad at 3 p.m.
Each doubles team will bowl seven games, and the top quarter of the field will move on to the semifinals Sunday at 9 a.m. There, each duo will bowl another four games before the field is trimmed to the top 12 teams for round-robin match play.
Match play is set to begin at 12:30 p.m. Sunday, with a short break after six games before starting back up for the final six games at 4:30 p.m. to determine who wins the event and adds a title to their resumes.
Last year, Danielle McEwan of Stony Point, N.Y., and Anthony Simonsen of Las Vegas ended qualifying in the top 10 before dominating in match play to win the SABC for the second straight year.
Simonsen and Danielle McEwan enter as two-time defending champions. Moreover, McEwan has won three of the past four Lucis; she captured the 2021 title with EJ Tackett.
The teammates are two-for-two bowling together in the Luci, but have an extensive history competing together for Team USA and internationally.
Tackett won three of four Luci events from 2018 through 2022, each with a different partner. He will be competing for the fourth consecutive year with Diandra Asbaty. They won the event in 2022.
With the Luci being the final PBA Tour event of the season in which pinfall counts for a player’s season average, Tackett has PBA history on the line this weekend.
Tackett, averaging 229.43 across his 370 games this season, is on the precipice of breaking Jason Belmonte’s 2017 record of 229.39 (in 380 games).
BowlTV will livestream the event all weekend long starting with the Beauties vs. Beasts match at 5 p.m. Thursday.
The tournament is held annually in support of cancer research and has been ran by PWBA Hall of Famer Donna Conners since 2005.
The tournament is ran in honor of former PWBA member Luci Bonneau after Bonneau’s own breast cancer diagnosis.
Past Champions
2024 — Anthony Simonsen and Danielle McEwan
2023 — Anthony Simonsen and Danielle McEwan
2022 — EJ Tackett and Diandra Asbaty
2021 — EJ Tackett and Danielle McEwan
2019 — Kyle Sherman and Amanda Greene
2018 — EJ Tackett and Liz Johnson
2017 — Jason Sterner and Birgit Poppler
2016 — Bill O’Neill and Shannon O’Keefe
2015 — Bill O’Neill and Shannon O’Keefe
2014 — Scott Norton and Missy Parkin
2013 — Bill O’Neill and Shannon O’Keefe
2012 — Bryan O’Keefe and Shannon O’Keefe
2011 — Tommy Jones and Shannon Pluhowsky
2010 — Tommy Jones and Shannon Pluhowsky
2009 — Parker Bohn III and Carolyn Dorin-Ballard
2008 — Tommy Jones and Shannon Pluhowsky
2007 — Tommy Jones and Shannon Pluhowsky
2006 — Marc Laracuente and Carolyn Dorin-Ballard
2005 — Paul Fleming and Rachel Perez
2004 — Russell Wilson and Kristal Scott
2003 — Wes Malott and Genie Franklin
2002 — Dino Castillo and Diandra Hyman
2001 — Chris Barnes and Amy Dillon
2000 — Mark Scroggins and Donna Conners