Best In The West

champs Riley Dempsey & Sandy Truman

        Riley Dempsey and Sandy Truman picked up $500 scholarships and JBT major titles as champs of the 2010 Best In The West tournament, hosted by Brunswick Zone Mesa.

        A points system that rewards winning matches is the sole scoring method, not pinfall, creating a completely unique and fun event.  Dempsey was the scratch leader after day one, while Kyle King passed Dempsey fro the top spot on day two.  Both bowlers thus advanced to round two of the six-player finals, and watched as the #3-6 seeds played off.  In that game, Ben Canfield (245) and Zach Martinez (254) came up with huge games to eliminate Cameron Smith (208) and Anthony Tripi (184).  Kyle and Riley then joined in and defended their seeds, firing 213 and 235 respectively to oust Martinez (200) and first-time finalist Canfield (179) to set up the 1 vs. 2 title match.

        Scores were high on the previous day's house pattern, but much lower on the tricky Scorpion pattern, making filled frames a valuable commodity.  Dempsey's look was deteriorating, but he held on while King made a furious comeback from a mid-game foul, and in the end Dempsey's tenth frame spare gave him 183-181 win, the 7th title of his JBT career, and first JBT major.

        Corbin Hirsch and KJ Martinez grabbed the top two spots after two days of qualifying, and could relax while seeds 3-6 competed in a four-way game.  In that match, Sandy Truman (263) and Kristen Lee (244) blasted big games to advance, while Marina Stever (171) and Wesley Roush (196), who won the previous day's tiebreaker just to get into Sunday's bowling, were eliminated in fifth and sixth.

        In the semifinal matchup, Truman remained red-hot, this time firing 280 with pins, while Hirsch defended his top seed with an advancing 235 score.  Lee (205) finished in fourth, while KJ's 215 was a solid game but relegated him to a third place finish.

        The title match continued to be all Truman, who saved his best bowling for the last two hours of the event, throwing up virtually untouchable scores, and wrapping it up with a front-six, 273-226 win over Hirsch (a winner last month in Tucson) for the title, the third of his JBT career.  His win came with an extra $100 for rolling Ebonite equipment to the decisive triumph.

        Thanks as always to the crew at Zone Mesa for a great job hosting our Tour.  Over $3,000 in scholarships was awarded at this great event- want your share?  Come on down to the next JBT event, it's that simple!