Greensburg Salem girls repeat as WPIBL champions

By: Michael Love
Thursday, February 18, 2021 | 8:33 PM

For the second year in a row, the Greensburg Salem girls bowling team is the WPIBL champion.

The Golden Lions prevailed over top-seeded Butler, 2-1, in a best-of-three title match Thursday afternoon at Sims Lanes in Beaver Falls.

Greensburg Salem won the first game of the finals, 215-156, while Butler returned the favor in the second game, 173-149. The Golden Lions finished off the victory, 188-147, in Game 3.

Seeded second after the three-game qualifying round, Greensburg Salem defeated third-seeded Penn-Trafford, 2-1, in the semifinals to punch its ticket to the finals.

In qualifying, Kayla Gaughn led Greensburg Salem with a 517 series, followed by Autumn Younkin (473), Raeann Record (472) and Erica Moss (473). Record bowled a 190.

Alyssa Balest led Penn-Trafford with a 478 series.

The section champions and runners-up from each of the nine girls sections took part in Thursday’s team championship tournament.

Greensburg Salem and Penn-Trafford finished tied for the Southeast section championship. They split their regular-season series, each finishing with 9-1 records.

Freeport and Plum finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in the qualifying round, and Blackhawk, Burrell and Shaler rounded out the top eight.

Burrell junior Lydia Flanagan produced the top individual series in the team qualifying round as she rolled games of 197, 198 and 182 for a 577 series.

She bested Plum freshman Mara Pilyih for the top spot by 12 pins. Pilyih’s 565 consisted of 182, 198 and 185 game scores.

The qualifying round, in addition to determining the three teams who would advance to the playoffs, also finalized the field from the WPIBL to the Western Regional tournament, set for March 13 at the North Versailles Bowling Center.

Those who had already earned automatic bids to regionals with first-place section finishes were Penn-Trafford, Butler, Plum, Blackhawk, McKeesport, Moon, Montour, Elizabeth Forward and Freeport.

Seven of the nine second-place teams also advance to regionals, and from the qualifying-round standings, Greensburg Salem, Burrell, Shaler, Norwin, Carlynton, New Castle and Thomas Jefferson punched their tickets.

The WPIBL singles tournaments take center stage next week at AMF Mt. Lebanon Lanes. The boys event will be Wednesday with the girls competition slated for Thursday.

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.