MILWAUKIE BOWL

champ Jeremy Witt

        Jeremy Witt ended a long journey for his first JBT title with a win in the grueling 'battle bag' format at Milwaukie's Kellogg Bowl.

        After five games of qualifying on the demanding Mexico City pattern, the top 16 advanced to the 'battle bag'.  In round one, each bowler started with only 3 balls for a best-of-5 match, and winners of each game removed one ball from their opponent's arsenal.  Zach Hemming qualified first, but lost game one and #16 Correen Lieber removed his best strike ball, but Hemming made the adjustment and won three straight to win the match.  #2 seed Nick Devlin suffered the reverse fate, winning game one, but watching #15 Brandon Myers coming back with three straight wins.  #4 Eddy Smith was the only one to sweep in three games, surprising given the advantage the game one winners get, and showing how capable the whole field is at adjusting to adverse circumstances.

        #9 Witt upset Hemming 2-1 in the best-of-3 next round, Smith stopped #5 John Jordan, #11 Jesse Covington ousted #14 Joey Huffman, and in the match of the day, Quinton Miller beat Myers 2-1.  Myers won game one 246-237, Miller came back with a 255-249 game two win (both scores were in the top 5 for the day), and down to one ball each, Quinton escaped 192-189- wow!

        In single game semifinals, Miller beat Covington 219-200, while Witt blasted Smith 265-187 to set up a title match between two non-winners on Tour.  Witt remained in control in the title game, ending years of frustration and finally capturing his first JBT title, while the quickly improving Miller earned his career high JBT finish.

        The Women's Series title game was a best-of-3 battle bag affair, and Breanne Mattson came back from a game one loss to beat Correen Lieber 2-1 for the day's Women's title.

        Thanks to the crew at Kellogg for a great job hosting our Tour.  Want in on the most unique, fun events around?  Just check out our schedule and come on down, it's that simple!