Greensburg Salem edges out Hempfield for boys regional bowling team title

By: Tribune-Review
Saturday, March 5, 2022 | 8:01 PM

Two Westmoreland County rivals met again with a regional title on the line at North Versailles Bowling Center on Saturday.

Led by all-tournament team selection Jake Smith, Greensburg Salem defeated Hempfield, 2-1, to claim the Western Pennsylvania regional boys team championship.

After qualifying, which consisted of three regular team games and six Baker games, Hempfield checked in as the fourth seed and Greensburg Salem was sixth. That meant neither would enjoy a bye and both would enter the step-ladder finals in the quarterfinal round.

Greensburg Salem topped Latrobe, 2-0, and Hempfield beat Thomas Jefferson, 2-0, to advance to the semifinals.

Then Greensburg Salem beat North Allegheny in three games, winning the decisive third game narrowly, 173-170, and Hempfield eliminated Butler in two games to set up the all-Westmoreland County final.

It went three games. Hempfield won the first, 191-177, before Greensburg Salem responded with a 223-166 victory. The Golden Lions won the winner-take-all third game, 228-180, to gain a measure of revenge for a three-game loss to Hempfield in the WPIBL team semifinals last month.

Butler was the top seed in qualifying with a score of 4,202, followed by North Allegheny (4,054), Latrobe (4,035), Hempfield (3,955), Thomas Jefferson (3,906) and Greensburg Salem (3,888).

Smith had the second-best series in qualifying with a 670. North Allegheny’s Jeb Jorden led the way with a 702. Butler’s Rocco Rice was third (639), North Allegheny’s Gavin Rush fourth (638) and Butler’s Eric Devore fifth (634).

Rice (265) and Devore (258) had the top games of the day.

The boys team championships at the state tournament are set for Saturday, March 19 in Lancaster.

The girls regional championships are set for next weekend in North Versailles with the singles tournament Friday and team event Saturday.