09/17/2026
Whew... what a week so far.
This past weekend we hosted the first ever Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Elite Regional. The 48' oil pattern was very challenging and the scoring pace fairly low. Only one player was able to snag a green PBA brick. That bowler was Matt Taylor from Raleigh, NC. Matt rolled his perfect game using his Storm Concept on lanes 15-16 during the advancers round or 4 games on Sunday morning.
Special congratulations goes out to our own Owen Darby who was the highest finishing left-handed bowler of the event (14th). There were not enough lefties in the field to break down the difficult pattern which had the southpaws scrambling to find a decent ball reaction all weekend.
With the PBA lane pattern stripped from the lanes and the house oil pattern re-applied things heated up quickly. During Tuesday night competition in the Gary Piripavel Memorial league 5 bowlers were able to carve out 7 award scores!
Picking up right where the last award score left off on Sunday, 15 and 16 was the first pair to see the next perfect game. By the time the night was over, the pair was scorched for 3 perfect games alone!
Austin Guelich had a night to remember as he opened up his evening with the first 12 strikes. After lane transition gave him troubles game two, he regained his focus and popped off another 12-bagger game three once again with his MOTIV Subzero Forge. That's right, two perfect games on the same night!
As Austin was trying to relocate his ball reaction game two, his teammate Brandon Zellner was finding the changing conditions much to his liking. Zellner connected for all 12 strikes with his Roto Grip Gem for his first brick on the Wall of Fame.
Only moments after Guelich captured his first 300 of the night, Landin Stout struck on his twelfth ball of the night for his first ever 300 and brick at Steel City. Landin went on to also add his first 800 at Steel City on games of 300-278-227 for an 805 set. Landin achieved his huge set with his Roto Grip Hyperdrive on lanes 19-20.
After all of that, there was yet another big "first" still in the works. Down on lanes 11-12, David Nguyen was quiety putting the finishing touches on what would be his first ever 800 series. The two-handed lefty racked up games of 270-257-279 for an 806 set using his Hammer Purple Pearl Urethane.
Last, but certainly not least, as Nguyen had just finished up his big set, Ross Winiarz was wrapping up the highest set of the evening on lanes 21-22. Over the past few years Ross has had a knack for putting up the first 800 set of the GPM league season. This year it took him a couple of extra weeks. Once again Winiarz used his Steel City crushing Storm Ion Pro Solid enroute to a super steady 269-276-269 = 814 set.
Congratulations boys!!
