KENT BOWL

champs Jakob Butturff & Josh Alvarez

        In one of the most thrilling stepladder finals in recent memory, Jakob Butturff and Josh Alvarez claimed JBT titles in terrific Pacific Northwest Conference action at Kent Bowl.

        Tyler Hogstrom opened the handicap division finals with a closely fought 194-185 win over Riley Basher.  Hogstrom then got past Connor Gracia 207-153.  Alvarez then stopped Hogstrom 227-170 to move on to the title game.

        Top seed Jerry Jennings was making his fourth straight title match, a very difficult feat in handicap, and seeking his third win in those four matches.  Alvarez, meanwhile, is in a tight points race for Invitational byes and Bowler of the Year.  Both bowlers thus had a lot on the line, and both bowled like it.  After two early opens, Jennings fought back brilliantly with a five-bagger, but Alvarez would leave no room for a comeback, throwing a confident 235 scratch game, resulting in an emotional and important 252-237 win for Josh, the second of his JBT career.

        It was an exciting handicap stepladder with great bowling, but this time it was trumped by 90 minutes of nonstop entertainment in the scratch division, fueled by the drama of the 'endless tenth frame' format.  Things began on a strange note, as Cortez Schenck rolled a big 257- the strange part being that he won by 127 pins, as Luke Jordan struggled to a 130.  Schenck (who is all of 14 years old) then got in a great battle with Darren Stanley.  After Cortez finished at 228, Stanley finished with a fill ball strike for 218, meaning he needed to strike once to tie, and two strikes to take the lead.  Darren couldn't get the strike though, freezing the final score at 228-218. 

        What followed was perhaps the most heartstopping match in JBT history.  Brian Monnette, off a disappointing runner-up finish yesterday, threw a brilliant game that finished at 255 with no endless tenth.  Schenck had missed a spare in the eighth, which ended up meaning he needed to throw the last four in regulation, plus another one in 'endless tenth' to get to exactly 255 himself.  Amazingly, Cortez was up to the task, getting them all to fall.  Needing another strike to win though, Schenck left a 9-pin, leaving the match tied at 255 after endless tenth, forcing the match to revert to the regular tiebreaker, which is a one-shot rolloff, with the higher seeded Monnette having the options of lane and order!  Brian chose to go first and got 9, and Cortez followed with a strike to claim the unbelievable win.  It's only the second time someone has come from behind courtesy of the endless tenth, and may well be the only time 'double overtime' is needed to do so!

        If that wasn't enough, that was just a semifinal win, and now Schenck advanced to take on top seed Jakob Butturff in a title match filled with Bowler of the Year implications.  Pac NW bowlers already knew how tough Cortez is, as he's made plenty of trips up north from Arizona, but this was their first look at Butturff in their 'home turf', widely regarded as currently the toughest scratch Conference in all of JBT.  All Jakob did is show them exactly why he is setting records with nearly every tournament this season, leading seven of the eight rounds to grab the #1 seed by over 150 pins.   Despite all his records, Butturff still trails the well-traveled Schenck in all-conference points by a slim margin, making this 1 vs. 2 battle huge in every conceivable way.  The title game was as tense as the situation would dictate, with big strings suddenly eluding both bowlers.  In the tenth frame, Jakob could not come up with the fill ball strike, finishing at 204.  After a 9-spare from Schenck in his tenth, Cortez struck on his fill ball for 203- meaning the whole tournament came down to one endless-tenth shot of immense pressure- strike to win, anything less to lose.  Schenck threw what appeared to be a perfect shot, but a vicious ringing-10 stood, giving Butturff the dramatic, amazing, stunning 204-203 win.  There could be no better gift for Jakob than winning his record 19th title of the SEASON (and 25th overall) on his 19th birthday. 

        Every JBT event is also a JBT Women's Series event, and in that matchup, Breanne Mattson beat Makayla Douglas 218-196, earning her second Women's win of the season, while Douglas remains in the thick of the all-conference Girls Bowler of the Year race, an amazing fact coming out of the tough-to-travel Northwest!

        Thanks to the crew at Kent for being great hosts for their first JBT event!  Over $1,500 in scholarships were awarded to bowlers of all averages and ages- to get in on the fun, jsut come on out to the next JBT event, that's all there is to it!