ANTHONY SIMONSEN AND DANIELLE MCEWAN REPEAT IN HOUSTON

JULY 28, 2024 NOLAN HUGHES
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Anthony Simonsen and Danielle McEwan won their second straight Storm PBA/PWBA Striking Against Breast Cancer Mixed Doubles title on Sunday afternoon at Copperfield Bowl in Houston. The tournament is commonly known as the “Luci,” in honor of Luci Bonneau, a long-time PWBA Tour player and close friend of SABC founder Donna Conners.

Simonsen earned his 16th career PBA Tour title and third this season, breaking a five-player tie among players with two titles. He also won the PBA Tour Finals in June, making this Simonsen’s second consecutive title this season.

McEwan notched her ninth career PWBA Tour title and first since last year’s Luci. She has won three of the past four Lucis, winning in 2021 with EJ Tackett.

While the road to a repeat looked a little different this time around, the champagne tastes all the same.

Last year, Simonsen and McEwan clawed their way to the top after qualifying in 30th place. This year, the duo finished in ninth after the first cut.

“Now that we’re done, I can say that it’s because she didn’t bowl 130 the first game,” a laughing Simonsen said of why the team started stronger this year.

The teammates have bowled the Luci together for two years — both victories, of course — but have an extensive history competing around the world. That experience created strong communication, which translates to strong lane-play and shot-making.

“My game felt pretty good all weekend, physically,” McEwan said. “We just kept talking through what was going on on the lanes, making sure that I was making the right moves and had the right ball in my hands. I saw a good picture and when you see it clearly, it’s easier to repeat shots. Towards the end there, it felt like it was impossible to strike. But I just kept trying to hit the head-pin, make my spares and make any splits I left, knowing that he was going to throw a double and make up for it.”

With three games to go, Simonsen and McEwan held an 18-pin advantage over Dom Barrett and Diana Zavjalova in advance of their head-to-head matchup. Frank Snodgrass and Jordan Richard sat in third place 120 pins behind the lead, meaning the winner could secure a firm grasp on the lead.

“We knew it was huge. We were basically going to have two position rounds in three games,” Simonsen said. “I think it was good for us to get a good start there and to kind of make them start pressing and thinking we could run away from us.”

While Barrett and Zavjalova each split early in the game, Simonsen fired the front-six strikes. He finished with 267 and McEwan chipped in a clean 197, earning the defending champions a crucial victory and extending their lead to 112 pins — a lead no team would threaten.

“We were fortunate to bowl a really good game and Dom made a mental lapse giving us a few extra pins there going into Game 5,” said Simonsen, referring to Barrett’s missed single-pin in the 10th frame. “I think it made it easy to know that I don’t really have to look for a great ball reaction; she’s going to bowl close to 200. We just need to fill as many frames as possible.”

The scoring pace plummeted during the final two games of each match play round on the 42-foot oil pattern. But Simonsen and McEwan executed their gameplan to perfection to push their title defense across the finish line.

“I drilled a ball in between the match play rounds, which definitely helped me towards the end with the lanes getting pretty dry in the front,” Simonsen said. “For her, we eliminated some balls and got to the three or four that we’re going to use. I think that’s what worked for her really well during the second block is that we knew if this ball didn’t work, we could go to that one.”