Plum bowlers shine at WPIBL team championships, turn attention to individual finals

By: Michael Love
Saturday, February 15, 2025 | 11:01 AM

Once the Plum boys bowling team hit its stride, nothing was getting in its way.

After losing their first game of the semifinals, the Mustangs reeled off wins in the next four games of the bracket playoffs to claim the WPIBL boys team championship Feb. 12, at AMF Mt. Lebanon.

Plum, which finished second in qualifying, faced third-seeded New Castle in the semifinals.

The Red Hurricanes opened the 10th frame with a strike to win the first game, 203-199.

The Mustangs came alive in the second game with seven straight strikes to win, 269-164, then cruised in the decisive third game, 237-196.

Facing top-seeded Greensburg Salem in the finals, Plum didn’t slow down, winning 195-152 and 192-167 to complete the two-game sweep.

Greensburg Salem led qualifying with a three-game score of 3,025. Plum was second at 2,922 and New Castle third at 2,824.

Plum didn’t have any of its bowlers finish in the top seven on the individual-results sheet, but its three leaders — senior Cade Shimmer, senior Vince Rossetti and junior Brian Krall — were grouped together in eighth through 10th, respectively.

Schimmer got better as he progressed in the qualifying round. He started out with a 188 and then rolled a 204 before finishing with a 236 for a 628 series.

Rossetti was just four pins behind Schimmer with games of 195, 243 and 186, and Krall was one pin behind Rossetti with games of 183, 179, and 221.

Juniors Grayson Byass-Rascoe and Grayson Koontz helped the Mustangs reach the playoffs with series of 544 and 503, respectively.

Plum put it all together for the championship after placing seventh at last year’s WPIBL team tournament.

The Mustangs have proved to be one of the more accomplished and consistent teams at recent WPIBL championships. They took fifth in 2023, 10th in 2022, eighth in 2021 and fifth in 2020.

Plum qualified for the WPIBL team playoffs by finishing in a first-place tie with Gateway in the East Section standings. The teams split their two-match series.

Gateway finished seventh after the qualifying round with 2,627 pins.

The Mustangs boys transitioned from the WPIBL team championships to the league’s singles championship tournament Wednesday at AMF Mt. Lebanon.

Plum had the most singles qualifiers — six — among those who met the requirements for the tournament: an average of 170 or better with at least 21 games bowled in the regular season.

Schimmer, who highlighted his season with the only 300 game in WPIBL regular-season league play, fronted the Mustangs with a season average of 211.23 for 30 games.

His 211.23 average ranked ninth overall. Thomas Jefferson senior Dylan Roberts led all WPIBL boys bowlers with a 223.43 average over 30 games.

Koontz (204.95, 22 games), Krall (195.08, 25 games), Byass-Rascoe (190.76, 25 games), Rossetti (186.04, 25 games) and sophomore Tim Ellefson (177.57, 21 games) also made their mark for the Mustangs.

The Plum girls were powerful in the WPIBL regular season. They rolled through the competition and finished with a 10-0 record to claim the East section title.

That propelled the Mustangs into last Thursday’s WPIBL girls team playoffs at AMF Mt. Lebanon with a shot at a second-straight WPIBL title. Plum also made the semifinals in 2023.

Plum joined Carlynton, McKeesport, Hempfield, Freeport, Montour, OLSH, Butler and Norwin as undefeated section champions.

Junior Addison Then led the Mustangs in the regular season with a 196.00 average through 30 games. That also was good for seventh among all WPIBL girls bowlers.

Sophomore Callie Schimmer finished with the 10th-best average: 190.00 over 30 games.

Then and Schimmer also fronted a group of five Plum bowlers who qualified for the WPIBL girls singles championship set for Thursday at AMF Mt. Lebanon. To qualify, bowlers needed to bowl at least 21 games and finish with a 130 or better average through the regular season.

Also punching their tickets were junior Alexandria Fulmer (179.52, 29 games), freshman Brooklynn Then (172.04, 28 games) and senior Bobbie Meli (157.00, 30 games).

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.

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