Mojave Doubles

champs Zeke Bayt, Fidel Marchena, Labriel Leach, & Steven Acuff

        Four talented bowlers with four great stories captured titles in exciting action at the JBT Mojave Doubles Classic, hosted by The Orleans Bowling Center.  In preparation for a college event and our Main Event, bowlers from 14 states and two countries participated!

        The scratch division stepladder finals opened with DJ Sloan and Steven Villanueva teaming for a 215-201 Baker format win over Jordan Katz and Wendy MacPherson.  Villanueva then doubled in the tenth frame to edge defending champions Zack Hattori and David Prange 235-232.  The tables were turned in the semifinals when Zeke Hayt came up with a tenth frame double, allowing him and partner Fidel Marchena to edge Sloan and Villanueva 232-225 to reach the title match.

        The Pacific Northwest combo of Marshall Kent and Cameron Weier dominated the extremely strong field, leading all seven qualifying rounds en route to top seed.  However, both Hayt and Marchena were completely locked in, and they were able to cruise to a 268-187 win and the championship.  The Pikeville college duo, out here for a college event the next day, became the first bowlers from Ohio (Zeke) and the Domincan Republic (Fidel) to win JBT (SW/NW) titles respectively- great job!

       The father-son team of Jeremy and Regino Cardines opened the handicap division stepladder with a 206-159 win over Nicholas Pollak and Brandon Duffy.  The Cardines duo then beat Brandy Kawamato and defending champ Casey Nagamine, both from Hawaii, 237-206.   In the semifinals, Tyler and Todd Ottenschot, another father-son team, beat Jeremy and Regino 201-180 to reach the title match.

        The Ottenschots were making their second finals of the year as a team, having reached the So Cal ladder two weeks before.  However, top seeds Labriel Leach and Steven Acuff looked awfully good (on the lanes if not in their choice of matching shirts- just this writer's opinion) en route to the top seed.  A tenth frame open from Leach gave the Ottenschots a chance to double for the win, but when Todd didn't get the second strike, the match belonged to Labriel and Steven, by an eventual 197-184 decision.  The victory was a landmark for both bowlers.  The 6th win of Acuff's career ties him for most handicap wins all-time, while Labriel reaches title #10, only the 19th bowler in JBT history to amass 10 or more titles.

        Thanks as always to the great crew at The Orleans for hosting our Tour.  Over $2,500 in scholarships were awarded- if you missed it, you missed a great time!  Don't miss another JBT event- just check out our schedule and come on down, it's that simple!