Del Rosa Lanes

champs Mark Mansfield & Zoren Hartfield

        The city of Hemet conquered San Bernardino on Saturday, as Mark Mansfield and Zoren Hartfield captured their first JBT titles in exciting Southern California Conference season-opening action at Del Rosa Lanes.

        Brandon Kraye, who fired the high-scoring event's only 300 game, opened the scratch division stepladder finals with a 245-166 win over Mark Myers.  Mansfield then took over, beginning with a 224-213 squeaker over Kraye, and following with a 225-188 defeat of Shane Peck to reach the title match.

        Top seed Adam Dubia enjoyed his best JBT event by far, capturing the top seed with the help of an undefeated semifinal round.  However, his carry started to go away in the final match, while Mansfield was just getting stronger.  In the end, Mansfield's 234-188 win was good for the first title of his JBT career.

        Samantha Meyers began the handicap division stepladder finals with a 235-162 win over Brittany Kolatzny, who has already made the top 5 in three conferences this season.  Meyers then got past Ricardo Mendoza 226-203, before Nick Vinyard emphatically stopped Samantha's run with a 254-177 semifinal win.

        Top seed Hartfield took over  the lead in game six, but had his hands full with a determined Vinyard, a veteran looking for his first title.  After Nick finished at 226, Zoren needed a strike to win, and spare-strike to tie.  After almost leaving a solid 7-9, Hartfield got the spare, then flushed a strike for the 226 tie, forcing a two-frame rolloff.  This time Zoren finished first, marking twice and thus forcing Nick to double.  Vinyard's first shot was good but left a stubborn 10-pin, and the relieved Hartfield captured his first career JBT title.

        Thanks as always to the crew at Del Rosa for hosting our Tour.  Over $1,100 in scholarships were awarded to bowlers of all averages- if you want in on all this fun (and you should!), just come down to the next JBT event- it's that simple!