PEPSI To Sponsor Professional Women's Bowling Association Tour

ARLINGTON, Texas – The Professional Women’s Bowling Association (PWBA) today announced a new sponsorship deal making Pepsi the official soft drink of the 2016 PWBA Tour.

As part of the agreement, Pepsi will be the title sponsor of the PWBA Tour stop in Lincoln, Nebraska. The Pepsi PWBA Lincoln Open will take place June 9-12 at Sun Valley Lanes.

“As the official soft drink of bowling and longtime partner for Bowling Proprietors’ Association of America centers, we are excited to partner with Pepsi as part of the growing PWBA Tour,” BPAA President Tom Martino said. “The PWBA Tour also provides a wonderful way to showcase the iconic Pepsi products that are offered in bowling centers and to continue to build our relationship to benefit BPAA members.”

As an official sponsor, Pepsi also will be featured during 2016 PWBA Tour telecasts on CBS Sports Network. The United States Bowling Congress and CBS Sports Network recently reached an agreement to televise 23 major championship bowling events in 2016, including 13 telecasts of the PWBA Tour.

“Seeing Pepsi as an official sponsor of the PWBA Tour gives us a great feeling of pride,” PWBA spokeswoman Kelly Kulick said. “Pepsi has a rich history in bowling and we’re looking forward to our new partnership.”

The stepladder finals of the 2016 Pepsi PWBA Lincoln Open will be taped during the PWBA Players Championship in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on June 26, and will air on CBS Sports Network on Tuesday, July 12.

Go to PWBA.com for more information about the PWBA Tour and players.

Loschetter Wins First PBA National Title at Lucas Oil PBA Wolf Open

Chris Loschetter of Avon, Ohio, ended his nine-year quest for a Professional Bowlers Association Tour title when he defeated four-time PBA Tour winner Bill O’Neill of Langhorne, PA, 264-231, to win the Lucas Oil PBA Wolf Open at AMF Bowlero. 

The second of five GEICO PBA Summer Swing presented by Lucas Oil telecasts aired Tuesday on CBS Sports Network. 

Loschetter, 33, who had finished second four times during a PBA Tour career that began in 2003 and included 153 previous events, followed a pair of poor shots in the third and fourth frames with a near-perfect finish to run away from O’Neill for the win. 

Loschetter entered the Wolf Open finals as the top qualifier, claiming that honor in the preliminary rounds at AMF West by two pins over PBA Hall of Famer Norm Duke of Clermont, FL. 

“I’ve put in thousands of hours in this game and to finally win is what matters to me,” Loschetter said. “To say I’m a champion is amazing. I didn’t think for a long time that was ever going to happen. It finally did.” 

Loschetter admitted it was increasingly disappointing to know that O’Neill and Mike Fagan, among others – guys who started their careers about the same time he did – had titles while he was left behind. 

“Bill’s an amazing bowler,” Loschetter said. “I got to see him and Fagan and all the guys coming up with me win, and it’s been very hard. I’ve been very happy for them because they’re great guys in addition to being great bowlers. But it’s been very hard to watch."

“I had a lot of people telling me to get that first win,” he added. “They mean well and I appreciated it, but it’s hard to keep hearing. I had to deal with all of those thoughts going through my head. I woke up at 7 this morning and I was thinking all of the crazy things that could happen. I had to let it go. I didn’t know if I could, but I did. Finally. I finally have a title. It’s my lifelong dream.” 

Along with his first title, Loschetter qualified for the PBA Tournament of Champions for the first time and he secured a berth in the GEICO Summer King of the Swing special event, the concluding event of the Summer Swing. 

O’Neill, who entered the finals as the No. 5 qualifier, nipped PBA Hall of Famer Pete Weber of St. Ann, MO, 222-221, in the opening match. He then spoiled the PBA television debut of 20-year-old rookie E.J. Tackett of Huntington, IN, 234-204, and used a string of six consecutive strikes to rally past Duke in the semifinal match, 233-206. 

The Wolf Open was contested on a 32-foot lane conditioning pattern – the shortest in the PBA’s series of eight animal patterns. The finals of the Lucas Oil Bear Open, the third event in the GEICO PBA Summer Swing series, will air next Tuesday, June 25, at 7 p.m. ET. 

The preliminary rounds of the Bear Open were contested on a flat 40-foot lane condition pattern – similar to the demanding pattern used in the U.S. Open – at AMF Bowlero. 

Advancing to the Bear Open finals were top qualifier Jason Belmonte, Australia; Chris Barnes of Double Oak, Texas; Loschetter; Dan MacLelland of Canada, and Tom Hess of Urbandale, Iowa. 

To find CBS Sports Network in your home market, visit: http://www.cbssportsnetwork.com/channel-finder. 

LUCAS OIL WOLF OPEN AMF Bowlero, Wauwatosa, WI
Final Standings: 1, Chris Loschetter, Avon, Ohio, $8,000. 2, Bill O’Neill, Langhorne, PA, $5,000. 3, Norm Duke, Clermont, FL, $4,000. 4, E.J. Tackett, Huntington, IN, $3,000. 5, Pete Weber, St. Ann, MO, $2,000. 

PBA sponsors include Barbasol, Brunswick, Ebonite International, GEICO, Jack Link’s, Lucas Oil, MOTIV, Storm Products and the United States Bowling Congress, among others. For more information, log on to www.pba.com>.

PBA Summer Swing Will Air on CBS Sports

The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) and CBS Sports Network have entered into a multi-year television agreement that features a series of five telecasts originating from the new GEICO PBA Summer Swing in Milwaukee in June.

The agreement, announced Tuesday by PBA CEO Geoff Reiss and Dan Weinberg, Senior Vice President, Programming, CBS Sports Network, includes five two-hour telecasts featuring stepladder finalists from four PBA Summer Swing events, and concludes with a GEICO PBA Summer King of the Swing special event featuring the top five competition points leaders from the Summer Swing events.

Summer Swing telecasts debut Tuesday, June 11 (7:00 PM, ET) on CBS Sports Network and continue for five consecutive Tuesdays at 7:00 PM, ET.

“We're thrilled at how committed CBS Sports Network is to the PBA and we're looking forward to their telecasts of the debut of the Summer Swing,” Reiss said. “The PBA's long-term success is predicated on developing great partnerships and we're looking forward to working with everyone at CBS Sports Network to grow both the PBA and the Network.” 

”We’re excited to partner with the PBA and showcase the world’s best bowlers,” Weinberg said. “The PBA has a storied history and an established fan base and we’re pleased to add it to our extensive lineup of event programming.”

The GEICO PBA Summer Swing is a new series of PBA Tour events which will be contested on three new “animal pattern” lane conditions that will debut in Milwaukee. The qualifying segments of the PBA Badger Open, PBA Wolf Open and PBA Bear Open will be hosted by three different Milwaukee area bowling centers (AMF Waukesha, AMF West and AMF Bowlero) between May 19-30. The cumulative pinfall totals from the three animal pattern events will qualify players for the Milwaukee Open, the fourth event in the series, and the GEICO PBA Summer King of the Swing will feature the top five points leaders based on the four previous events.

The Badger Open finals will air on June 11, the Wolf Open on June 18, the Bear Open on June 25, the Milwaukee Open on July 2 and the GEICO PBA Summer King of the Swing on July 9. All will be two-hour, five-player stepladder finals.