BATON ROUGE - About midway through Sunday’s opening broadcast of the PBA Players Championship, and more importantly, the group’s first broadcast on new over-the-air partner, The CW, I had made the decision not to write much about it, especially the broadcast.

I had by the start of the third match had a page front and back of thoughts written down that I thought wouldn’t be fair to blast out right away. I felt it would be fair to give the network a chance to come back next Sunday and see if the kinks can be ironed out. 

But then something unexpected happen. Brandon Bonta, a 23-year-old rookie, shot a perfect 300 game in the title match to win the title

In his first career PBA Tour event as a professional, Bonta defeated EJ Tackett in the title match, 300-238, to win the major championship for his first career PBA Tour title and the $100,000 top prize.

Again, I don’t want to get much this week into the telecast itself and new announcers Rick Allen and Kyle Sherman other than to say Sherman got more comfortable as the show went on. The first game neither announcer was helped by the truck which rolled video and graphics either early or late and Sherman was getting used to hearing a producer constantly in his ear.

Allen is in the same position Rob Stone was many years ago on ESPN when he didn’t know a thing about bowling but his enthusiasm made him a favorite with younger fans. How it plays out with Allen we will see in the weeks ahead. His inability to call pins correctly or at all is an issue that must be taken up at once.

The most important thing is that for nine more Sundays at 3 p.m. on The CW, bowling has its home and that is good. I’m having to get used to the CW Sports Orange coloring that highlights everything on the show. We’ll see how it goes at the Pete Weber Classic this coming Sunday.

Grand Prix Tournament

The rescheduled Grand Prix Event was held this past weekend at Creole Lanes in Houma. In the top divisions U18, Caroline Engeron from Tangi Lanes in Hammond added another major title to her resume’ with the win in the double elimination bracket finals. Annie Laurence of All Star BR took home second with another Tangi bowler, Kennedy Mack, finishing third. Addison Legendre of Premier Lanes in Gonzales rounded out the top four.

In the boy’s division, Brady Barrilleaux from Westside Lanes captured the top medal with Hunter Simon from Tangi second. Frankie Phan from BR All Star was third and Colin Clark of Bowlero Kenner fourth.

Parker Blanchard of Premier Lanes won the U16 girl’s title.

The complete listings of finishers can be found on the Louisiana Youth Bowling Facebook page.

High School Back To Action

High school bowling begins again in Southeast Louisiana, including matches Monday through Thursday at the local lanes.

We are just over under a month until the end of the regular season and so many storylines are starting to setup here in Baton Rouge. Here are just a few:

Can teams like Episcopal, University High and French Settlement keep it going in Division II and get a high seed in the playoffs?

Is there a team in District 4-5A that can make a push to make the Division I playoffs with only one team as of this writing with a .500 record? For that matter any chance at all five 5-5A teams make the playoffs?

There are four girls’ teams that should be in the playoff hunt if they can continue but there will be some head-to-head matches that will make a difference.

Finally, can any Baton Rouge stop the NOLA dominance in the playoffs? Those questions and more will be answered soon enough.

A reminder more college bowling this weekend at All Star as Jackson State hosts the TNBA Invitational, Friday through Sunday and Southern will be participating.

Until next Monday, good luck and good bowling,

                                                              Kent Lowe