By BILL SNIER
PARMA HEIGHTS — She has enjoyed a Hall of Fame career on the Professional Women’s Bowling Association Tour with 25 combined titles, including cashing in 101 out of 115 career events through last season.
But now 52 years old, Liz Johnson will have to make some decisions on where her bowling career takes her following this week’s PWBA Tour Championship Week at Yorktown Lanes.
In addition to bowling every stop on the PWBA Tour this season, Johnson also bowled in five PBA50 Tour events, with four cashes in five events and becoming the first woman to win on that Tour in Hammond, Ind.
That just adds to her list of firsts, including PBA Tour, PBA regional and PWBA regional titles over her 30 seasons as a professional bowler.
“To win on the PBA50 Tour this season was awesome … I’ve won in every category you can,” said Johnson, who has career earnings of nearly $500,000. “As a career boost, it was great.
“I’m just going to keep bowling everything I can.”
Johnson is the lone senior player in the 81-player field for the PWBA Cleveland Open. After a 298 in Game 3 — “It was just the right ball on the right pair,” Johnson said — she stands ninth in the field with 1,273 total pinfall.
It was a morning session when just 30 of the 81 players averaged 200 or better.
“It was really flat .. there wasn’t a lot of hold,” Johnson said of the PWBA 41-foot Cleveland Open oil pattern (pattern is attached below). “It you got it a little right, it kind of like the ball was falling off a cliff.
“But they seemed to be opening up a little more at the end so I expect the scores will be higher tonight on the burn.”
Johnson has been home, which now is in Orlando, Fla., only three weeks since April 14 with her busy touring schedule. She admittedly has not examined the PBA’s new rules for its ELITE Tours, starting with regional play for the remainder of 2026 and carrying over into 2027.
“I still love to bowl and I still have to bowl. I bowl for a living, and that’s a lot of it,” said Johnson, who plans to continue on the PWBA Tour in 2027. “I know I can still compete at the highest level mentally and physically.
“I’m not super clear on everything (the PBA is planning). All I will say at this point is I will bowl as much as I can.”
After the conclusion of PWBA Tour Championship Week at Yorktown, Johnson next will be bowling the Petersen Classic in Chicago and then a PBA50 regional event in Middletown, Del., in Aug. 28 through 30.
“After that, I will have some time to see what I want to do. I’m going to have sit down with my sponsors and figure out what I can do. At this point, I’m not really sure,” Johnson said. “But I plan on doing this as long as I can. I can’t give any time frame … I’m not giving anyone a period.”
RESTREPO BATTLING HEALTH ISSUES
Colombia native and Kent resident Rocio Restrepo-Hostetler is not 100 percent heath-wise following her strong performance during the PBA-PWBA Striking Against Breast Cancer Mixed Doubles last week in Houston.
Restrepo and partner Deo Benard finished second in the field by just nine pins to champions Annalise Bryant and Spencer Robarge.
“It was a tough loss obviously. We were so close and, unfortunately, I missed a couple of spares and so did Deo,” said Restrepo-Hostetler, who owns four career PWBA titles with the last coming in 2018.
“But I was dealing with sickness … I almost didn’t get on the plane to go to Houston. I passed some kidney stones during the practice session. I couldn’t keep any food down. I was eating soups, bananas … cutting all glutens and no caffeine.”
When she got home from Houston last week, the pain in her back and overall sickness had not subsided, forcing her to go have medical tests done, including an ultrasound Monday.
“I wasn’t able to even walk … I was just so weak that I didn’t even touch a bowling ball until (Tuesday),” said Restrepo-Hostetler, who has a 3-year-old daughter with husband, Joe Hostetler. “I was just so sore and sick that Saturday and Sunday I just slept as much as I could. I have a high pain tolerance, but something is setting this off.”
This is not her first bout with the kidney stone problems. It flared up when she won her last title in 2018 when she passed an eight millimeter kidney stone and also had to have surgery in 2019. She has battled occasional flareups over the past five years, but they have not been as much of a problem since her pregnancy.
“I’m feeling OK, but I choose not to think about my physical game too much,” she added. “I just going to try to make decent shots, and once I see the picture I want on the lanes, I just try to make better shots.”
Restrepo-Hostetler had done a lot of work on her physical game leading into the SABC event. This season, she is 39th on the points list and 37th in earnings and has made just one match-play appearance.
“Taking a week and a half off was not ideal. I was feeling pretty sharp, and then this happened,” she added. “My knee and back are not hurting as much which is a good sign. But something is setting this off.
“This has been such a grind. I told them that if I feel physically I can get to the line and I’m not hurting, I’ll bowl, unless the test results come back and tell me something different.”
Despite the problems, Restrepo-Hostetler is standing 16th overall while averaging 209.67. She is just 11 pins out of the cut for match play going into the final six-game qualifying round.
“There was plenty of oil volume and it has a high viscosity which makes the ball kind of slow down a bit and there’s not much recovery down the lane,” she added. “Now that they are breaking down (on the burn) we may see some higher scores with more friction to the right.
“There might be a little more free hook depending on who you follow. I just have to stay on top of the moves and see how they transition.”
NOTEBOOK
LEADING SHIFT: Columbia’s Maria Jose Bohr averaged 225.33 and held the lead after the opening six qualifying games with 1,352 total pinfall, 31 pins ahead of defending PWBA Player of the Year New Hui Fen (1,321), who won twice at Yorktown a year ago during the PWBA Summer Series. Others in the top five include Lindsay Boomershine (1,295), Diana Zavjalova (1,293) and Vandalia’s Megan Duff (1,290), who shot 691 over her final three games to move up the ladder.
SCORING PACE: Shayna Ng is the cut line with 1,269 going into the final qualifying round. Jordan Snodgrass, who set a 12-game PWBA scoring mark during one of the three events at Yorktown a year ago and made two stepladder finals, is just seven pins behind. … The top 27 will cash, with Karli VanDuinen holding the final cash spot currently with 1,208. … Only 30 players averaged 200 or better during the opening round.
OTHER AREA: Stow’s Jillian Martin, the 2026 U.S. Women’s Open winner, is 47th with 1,141, with just three games over 200. Tallmadge’s Kirsten Moore stands 60th (1,109) and Amherst’s Amanda Morrow is 68th (1,083).
SCHEDULE: Today’s second qualifying round begins at 5 p.m. Tickets ($20) are available at the door … The field will be cut to the top 12 following today’s second qualifying round, with those bowlers returning for two rounds of six-game match play at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. Thursday. The top five in total pinfall following match play advance to the stepladder finals, set for 6:30 p.m., airing live on BowlTV.