PACIFIC LANES

champs John Jordan & Justin Shea; Women's Series champ Katie Beismann

        John Jordan and Justin Shea captured their first JBT titles in the exciting debut of the 'oadotat' format at Tacoma's Pacific Lanes.

        In 'oadotat', after a five game qualifier and cut to the top 16, bowlers competed in matchplay where the lower seeded bowler needed to win twice to win a match, but the higher seeded bowler only needed to win once, thus 'one and done or two and through'.  This makes the 5-game qualifier extremely important, even in the drop-pins format of matchplay, and it showed as the top seeds advanced to the final four in both divisions.

        In the scratch division, top seed Anthony Douglas had led since game two, but Jordan stopped him, winning 191-183 and 231-224.  Meanwhile, #7 seed Josh Jackson needed both games to stop #12 Eddy Smith 197-211 and 221-183 to advance.   Josh and John have similar styles, but after Jackson won the first game to force a decider, it was Jordan who came up biggest in the finals, winning in the deciding game 228-203 for the long-awaited first career title.

       In the handicap division, top seed Shea stopped #4 Alan Vancleeve in the first game 212-167 to advance.  The other match was a true roller-coaster, as #7 Brett Scott looked fated for elimination when #2 Toby Shepherd marked in the tenth, but Toby guttered on the fill ball, creating a 195-195 tie, forcing a rolloff which Brett won to force a second game.  Shepherd had a chance to double to win the second game, but a solid-10 cost him a heartbreaking 229-219 loss, but a thrill for Scott as he advanced to the title game.

        Justin had been unable to finish the deal in previous title matches, but this time proved to be different, as Shea won the first game 201-183 for the victory and the first title of his JBT career.

        In Women's Series action, Katie Beismann's strike on the first shot of the tenth frame proved to be the difference in a 187-185 tough battle against Sarah Boe for the day's title.  Katie now has a shot at a $500 bonus at the Girls Invitational this summer in Las Vegas.

        Thanks as always to the crew at Pacific for their great job hosting our Tour.  Over $1,600 in scholarships were awarded to bowlers of all ages and averages- want in on the fun?  Come on out to the next JBT event, it's that simple!