Anthony Simonsen and Danielle McEwan do it again in Houston

Anthony Simonsen and Danielle McEwan won their second consecutive Storm PBA/PWBA Striking Against Breast Cancer mixed doubles title Sunday afternoon at Copperfield Bowl in Houston. The tournament is commonly referred to as “Luci,” in honor of Luci Bonneau, a longtime PWBA Tour player and close friend of SABC founder Donna Conners.

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

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

Even though the path to repetition looks a little different this time around, the champagne tastes the same.

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

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

The teammates have been playing together at Luci for two years (two wins, of course) but have a long history of competing around the world. That experience has created a strong communication, which translates into solid tracking and hitting.

“I was in good shape all weekend,” McEwan said. “We just kept talking about what was happening on the lanes, making sure I was making the right moves and getting 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 I felt like it was impossible to hit. But I kept trying to hit the lead pin, making my spares and making the splits I had left, knowing he was going to throw a double and catch me.”

With three games remaining, Simonsen and McEwan were 18 pins ahead of Dom Barrett and Diana Zavjalova heading into their head-to-head clash. Frank Snodgrass and Jordan Richard were in third, 120 pins behind the leader, meaning the winner could secure a firm grip on the lead.

“We knew it was huge. We were going to have two seeding rounds in three games,” Simonsen said. “I think it was a good thing for us to get off to a good start and get them to start pressing and think we could get away.”

With Barrett and Zavjalova splitting early, Simonsen hit the first six strikes. He finished with 267 and McEwan had a 197, giving the defending champions a crucial win and extending their lead to 112 pins – a lead neither team could threaten.

“We were fortunate to play a really good game and Dom made a mental mistake that allowed us to win a few more pins going into Game 5,” Simonsen said, referring to Barrett’s missed single in the 10th inning. “I think that let me know that I don’t really have to look for a good reaction ball; she’s going to play close to 200. We just have to fill as many ends as we can.”

The pace of scoring has dropped in the last two games of each round of match play on the 42 foot oil modelBut Simonsen and McEwan executed their game plan to perfection to push their title defence to the finish line.

“I used a ball between rounds of match play, which really helped me toward the end because the lanes were pretty dry out front,” Simonsen said. “For her, we eliminated a few balls and got down to the three or four that we’re going to use. I think that’s what really worked for her in the second block is we knew if that ball didn’t work, we could switch to that one.”

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Each of the 159 doubles teams played a seven-match qualifying round with combined scores on Friday or Saturday. The top 40 teams advanced to the semifinals on Sunday morning. After four additional matches, the top 12 teams advanced to the round-robin.

The round robin match took place on Sunday afternoon in two rounds of six games.

During the last match of the event, Simonsen noticed something: He was the only one who could wield two weapons.

“It’s unique. With so many hooks on the lanes, it usually favors the high-rpm, high-spin players,” Simonsen said. “Some traditionalists might like that … except the only two-handed player in the field won the tournament.”

The PBA Tour continues later this week in Jonesboro, Arkansas. The PBA, PBA50 and PWBA tours converge on Hijinx Entertainment for a unique trios event.

Competition begins Thursday at the PBA/PBA50/PWBA Jonesboro Trios. More information is available here.

Final Standings — Storm PBA/PWBA battles breast cancer in mixed doubles

1. Anthony Simonen and Danielle McEwan, +1 211
2. Dom Barrett and Diana Zavjalova, +976
3. Frank Snodgrass and Jordan Richard, +925
4. Andrew Anderson and Erin McCarthy, +916
5. Sean Riccardi and Karsyn Lukosius, +812
6. Mitch Hupé and Julia Bond, +769
7. François Lavoie and Crystal Elliott, +665
8. Kevin McCune and Emma Wren, +638
9. Kris Prather and Hope Gramly, +618
10. Richie Teece and Liz Kuhlkin, +521
11. Matt Kuba and Ashly Galante, +478
12. Alec Keplinger and Juliana Botero, +474

The full ranking is available here.

More information on the Storm PBA/PWBA Striking Against Breast Cancer mixed doubles is available here.