PARMA HEIGHTS, Ohio – Elise Bolton of Riverview, Florida, sustained an ankle injury just prior to the start of the 2023 Professional Women’s Bowling Association Tour season.

Although she has been attempting to bowl through the pain, it certainly hasn’t been easy, and that’s why Bolton gave serious consideration to sitting out Sunday’s regional event at Yorktown Lanes.

However, since her lone professional title came the last time a regional was held at Yorktown – the 2019 PWBA Greater Cleveland Regional – Bolton decided to gut it out and see what she could do.

It was a good decision.

Bolton made that abundantly clear when she defeated Alexis Cloud of Cleveland, 226-197, during Sunday’s live BowlTV stepladder finals at Yorktown Lanes to win the 2023 PWBA Cleveland Regional.

The victory earned Bolton her second career PWBA Regional title and $2,200. Cloud finished in second place and took home $1,100.

Cloud led during the early stages of the championship match, starting with three strikes in a row to establish a 29-pin advantage through three frames over Bolton, who began strike, open, spare.

That advantage wouldn’t last long though as Bolton recorded a turkey in frames four, five and six while Cloud recorded back-to-back opens and a spare during that same stretch.

That put Bolton ahead by 13 pins after six frames, and she had no intention of letting Cloud get any closer.

A light 7-pin ended Bolton’s string of strikes in the seventh frame, but she converted the spare and then proceeded to record three more strikes in the eighth, ninth, and 10th to officially shut Cloud out and secure the victory.

As expected, Bolton felt very good about getting back in the winner’s circle.

“After I threw the first strike in the 10th, I knew I’d won, but I still wanted to finish strong and end on a good note; that’s just the way I am,” Bolton said. “Still, if I’m being honest, I don’t think this win has really sunk in yet.”

Nevertheless, one thing that did sink in for Bolton was that by winning on Sunday, she had officially punched her ticket to the 2023 PWBA Regional Showdown, which will be contested at Aloma Bowl in Winter Park, Florida, on Dec. 7-9.

Bolton and the other regional champions from 2023 will automatically be seeded for match play at the Regional Showdown. The remaining spots in the 16-person field will be awarded based on the results of an eight-game qualifying round that will be open to all PWBA Regional-eligible bowlers.

The top 16 players will compete in round-robin match play before the field is cut to the final four bowlers for the stepladder finals.

Every player who qualifies for match play will cash at the Regional Showdown. If the number of entries is high enough, additional cash spots outside the top 16 will be paid at a ratio of 1:3 as is done for PWBA National Tour prize funds.

The winner of the 2023 Regional Showdown will not only receive a cash prize, but she will also have her entry fees covered for all 2024 PWBA National Tour singles events as well.

With such a lucrative prize up for grabs, Bolton was very happy to have secured her spot.

“My one goal going into this season was to make it to the Regional Showdown because I didn’t know how many national events I was going to be able to bowl due to my ankle,” Bolton said. “I wanted to win a regional to lock up my spot, so to do that today and give myself the opportunity to bowl in my home state is nothing short of amazing.”

What was even more amazing was the tenacity that Bolton showed enroute to her latest victory, especially since she wasn’t even sure she’d be able to compete in the first place.

“I didn’t even think that I was going to be able to come this weekend, but I figured I could suck it up for one more day and give it a go,” Bolton said. “Thankfully, my ankle started feeling good because last night I was able to go home, rest it and get some ice on it. I wanted to be able to come out here and try to defend my title, so to have done that is just unbelievable.”

Cloud kicked off Sunday’s stepladder finals by defeating No. 3 seed Haley Richard of Tipton, Michigan, by a final score of 202-190.

Cloud then went on to defeat Jenna Stretch of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, 181-178, in the semifinals before falling to Bolton in the title match.

Stretch settled for third place and $900 while Richard took fourth and walked away with $750.

Bolton earned the top seed for the stepladder finals by topping the nearly 100-player field during qualifying with an eight-game total of 1,755 (a 221.88 average). Stretch was second with 1,743 while Richard and Cloud punched their tickets to the stepladder finals by coming in with 1,742 and 1,720, respectively.

The next PWBA Regional event will be July 2 at the PWBA Pinehurst Regional. The tournament will be held at Sandhills Bowling Center in Aberdeen, North Carolina.