Hazel Dell Lanes

champs Marshall Kent & Timothy Kelly

     Marshall Kent, Yakima WA, and Timothy Kelly, Vancouver WA, picked up victories in exciting JBT Pacific Northwest Conference action at Husted's Hazel Dell Lanes.

     Brandon Dunson opened up the scratch division stepladder finals with a 222-161 victory over Tyler Cruz.  Kent then took over, edging Dunson 211-206 in round two, and following with a 178-165 grindout against Lucas Stone, to advance to the title match.

    Top qualifier Jordan Plunkett took over the tournament lead with a 710 semifinal set, which was impressive on the PBA Scorpion condition, which really challenged the bowlers all day (a 180 average was good enough to make the scratch cut).  Kent seemed to lose the momentum he had been riding with early struggles in the title match, while Plunkett put together an opening triple.  However, the second half of the match was the opposite story, as Kent retook the lead in the ninth frame, and sealed the match with a tenth frame strike.  His 208-186 win was good for the third title of his JBT career.  It's his second win of the season, matching Jordan for the lead in that category, which will become all-important when Bowler of the Year time comes around later this season.

       The handicap division stepladder finals opened with a nail-biting first match, as Brandon Barry opened his last five frames, but the first five were good enough to hang on to a 216-212 win over Courtney Nikolas.  Brittany Arndt then dispatched Barry 237-207.  Kyle Jonas, a winner earlier this season at Acme, then beat Brittany 220-206 to reach the title match.

        Top qualifier Timothy Kelly is yet another living example of the JBT slogan "any age, any average".  The nine year-old, in his first year of bowling in the Hazel Dell youth league, held his own all day long against the bigger boys and girls, nabbing the top seed for the finals.  Sometimes newer bowlers succumb to the pressure of a JBT title match, but not Kelly, as he just missed rolling the high game of his LIFE in a 244-173 rout of Jonas for the victory.  Timothy (and all bowlers finishing in the top 5) now qualify for the JBT Pac NW Invitational, held next June with a $1,000 top scholarship prize per division.

    Thanks as always to the crew at Hazel Dell for a fine job hosting us.  Over $1,400 in scholarships were awarded to bowlers of all averages- want in on the fun?  Check the schedules and all the other information at www.bowljbt.com, and come on out to the next JBT event, it's as simple as that!