ARIZONA INVITATIONAL

champs Jordan Plunkett & Taylor King

        Jordan Plunkett and Taylor King earned $1,000 scholarships each as champions of the 2010 JBT Arizona Invitational Tournament, hosted by AMF Peoria Lanes.

        Bowlers rolled 5 qualifying games on the tricky Viper pattern.  The top 11 scorers joined five exempt bowlers from the season-long points list in a thrilling triple-elimination matchplay contest.  In the scratch division, Washington's Jordan Plunkett continued the best stretch of his JBT career by leading qualifying to earn the top matchplay seed.  He remained unscathed through 5 matchplay rounds as the only undefeated bowler.  With eight bowlers left in round six, Plunkett gave Randy Cote his second loss, #6 Tyler Cruz gave #13 Kris George his second loss, #2 Jess Gagliardi eliminated Anthony Tripi, and #9 Kyle King ousted #8 Zach Martinez.

        With six bowlers left alive, Plunkett ousted George, Cote eliminated Cruz, and King eliminated Gagliardi.  The next two rounds were essentially round-robins with Gagliardi and then King eliminated, setting up a title match where Cote would have to beat Plunkett twice to win the title.

        Cote looked to be in control of the first match, but a 9th frame greek church ended up giving Plunkett a chance to strike in the first ball of the tenth frame for the win.  As he has so many times, Jordan was up to the task, throwing the strike and winning the match 221-213 for the major title and accompanying $1,000 scholarship.

        Whereas the top scratch seeds fared well overall in matchplay, handicap's bracket was the opposite, with #16 Taylor King and #15 Danny Varholdt, two exempt bowlers who needed that exemption to reach matchplay, emerging as the last undefeated bowlers.  They played each other in round four, with Varholdt winning to give Taylor her first loss.  By round seven, five bowlers remained, and in that round #2 Kristen Lee earned a bye, while #6 Randi Speiler eliminated #3 JJ Hall, and King played- guess who?- Varholdt, this time with Taylor giving Danny loss #1.

        In round nine, Lee was eliminated in 4th place, creating a stepladder situation where King and Speiler, now with two losses, would play each other, with the winner playing Varholdt for the title.  King beat Speiler 217-209 in the first match, setting up the ultra-appropriate title match between Taylor and Danny.

        King, the all-conference points leader, consolidated that lead with a clean game 223-174 win over Varholdt in the title match for the title, her first major, and a $1,000 scholarship.  Taylor, sometimes overshadowed by big brother Kyle, is having a great season of her own, in position to be the all-conference handicap Bowler of the Year.  Meanwhile, Varholdt's $500 was great consolation, but so was the fact that the runner-up points sealed the Arizona points title for him.

        Huge thanks to the whole crew at Peoria for a terrific job hosting Invitational weekend.  Just shy of $10,000 in scholarships were awarded to bowlers under age 22 from all over the Western United states this weekend alone.  Want in on all the fun?  Check out our schedule page, and we'll see you at a JBT event very soon!