Rash Gets First WSOB Title At Cheetah
Rash Gets First WSOB Title At Cheetah
When the 2020 PBA World Series of Bowling resumed last week, Sean Rash knew he had one shot to get his first WSOB title.
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CENTREVILLE, Va. – When the 2020 PBA World Series of Bowling resumed last week, Sean Rash knew he had one shot to get his first WSOB title. He made the most of that chance, winning the PBA Cheetah Championship in a show that aired Sunday night.
Rash defeated EJ Tackett, 229-215, to win the Cheetah at Bowlero Centreville. Although the win is the 16th of Rash’s career, it is his first World Series title in the 11th iteration of the event.
The WSOB began in March but was eventually postponed due to the coronavirus. All qualifying for the animal patterns event was held in March but the match-play rounds took place last week. The only event Rash advanced in was the Cheetah Championship and he did so as the No. 16 seed in winning a rolloff.
Rash was able to win three consecutive matches to climb the ladder and take down Tackett, who had earned the top seed.
In the title match, Tackett got out to a 20-pin lead after three frames but could not figure out the left lane, which ended his hopes.
Tackett struck on every shot on the right lane, however, on the left lane he struck once, left a washout, a two pin, a 2-4-10 split and an eight pin. Despite making all of those spares, it wasn’t enough to keep up with Rash.
Rash did take advantage of a couple breaks along the way, tripping a two pin in the eighth frame for a four-bagger. Needing nine pins on his first shot in the final frame, Rash tripped another two pin and secured the win.
In the semifinal, Rash moved on with a 218-191 win over lefty Packy Hanrahan, who had the lead for the first seven frames.
Hanrahan made it to the eighth frame with the lead but left the 2-4-7-10 split and missed it to trail by six pins. Rash stepped up and struck in the eighth and ninth frames to all but secure the win.
Rash advanced out of the first stepladder match with an easy 268-190 win over Darren Tang, who was seeking his first career title.
Rash left a wicked eight pin to open the match but struck on nine of his next 10 shots to coast to the win. Tang, meanwhile, left five single pins in a row from frames four through eight as he never got lined up.
The championship round began with a seeding round with all four players bowling one game to determine the seeding for the stepladder. Tackett earned the top seed with 247, Hanrahan was second with 225, Rash was third at 207 and Tang took the fourth seed with 202.