WPIBL concludes regular season, looks ahead to team and singles championships

By: Michael Love
Monday, February 15, 2021 | 12:11 PM

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A regular season far from normal has concluded for the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Bowling League, and top teams and individuals now are looking forward to the team and singles championships set for this week and next.

The top two teams from each boys and girls section will face off Wednesday and Thursday. The boys event is Wednesday at the North Versailles Bowling Center, while the girls teams will take center stage Thursday at Sims Lanes in Beaver Falls.

Central Catholic (boys) and Greensburg Salem (girls) enter the tournaments as defending champions.

Central Catholic captured the boys South section with a 10-0 record, while the Greensburg Salem girls finished tied with Penn-Trafford for first in the Southeast section.

Also qualifying for the WPIBL boys team tournament are Hempfield and Greensburg Salem (Southeast), North Allegheny and Butler (North), Gateway and Plum (East), Blackhawk and Beaver Falls (Northwest), Woodland Hills and Serra Catholic (Center), Moon and Avonworth (West), Montour and Carlynton (Southwest), Thomas Jefferson (South) and Freeport and Franklin Regional (Northeast).

Greensburg Salem edged Latrobe, 8-6, in a head-to-head match points tiebreaker for second place in the Southeast.

Freeport (17) and Franklin Regional (16) won a similar points tiebreaker with Apollo-Ridge (nine) to secure the two playoff spots from the Northeast.

Teams qualifying for the WPIBL girls tournament include Butler and Shaler (North), Plum and Burrell (East), Blackhawk and New Castle (Northwest), McKeesport and Norwin (Center), Moon and Quaker Valley (West), Montour and Carlynton (Southwest), Elizabeth Forward and Thomas Jefferson (South), and Freeport and Armstrong (Northeast).

The WPIBL singles tournaments will be Feb. 24 (boys) and Feb. 25 (girls) at AMF Mt. Lebanon Lanes.

To qualify, a boys bowler had to finish with an average of 170 or better with at least 21 games bowled, while a girls bowler needed a 140 average or better also with at least 21 games.

There will be new WPIBL boys and girls champions as last year’s titlists, Norwin’s CJ Turek and Plum’s Shannon Small, graduated.

Leading the way on the boys side with the top regular-season averages were a senior quartet of Freeport’s Mark Livingston (226.20), North Allegheny’s Dylan Scheidler (223.03), Norwin’s Ethan Dutka (215.63) and Penn-Trafford’s Nathan Horton (215.30).

Burrell junior Lydia Flanagan and Plum freshman Mareana Pilyih, both from the East section, led the WPIBL girls with 224.57 and 206.70 averages.

Freeport sophomore Julia Cummings was the only other girls bowler to crack 200 in average. She rolled a 200.43 average for 30 games.

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Armstrong, Avonworth, Beaver Falls, Blackhawk, Burrell, Butler, Carlynton, Central Catholic, Elizabeth Forward, Franklin Regional, Freeport, Gateway, Greensburg Salem, Hempfield, McKeesport, Montour, Moon, New Castle, North Allegheny, Norwin, Penn-Trafford, Plum, Quaker Valley, Serra Catholic, Shaler, Thomas Jefferson, Woodland Hills