RED ROCK LANES

champs Jakob Butturff & Cerell Cardines

        In a second straight day of wild finishes, Jakob Butturff and Cerell Cardines each made a little bit of history for themselves in thrilling Mojave Conference action at Red Rock Lanes. 

        Both division used the 'pick everyone's poison' format, where after a 5-game qualifier, the top seed sets up the entire matchplay bracket, not just their own matches.  In the scratch division, the cut was to 14 bowlers, making top seed Eric Hatchett's first round choice easy- nobody, giving himself a bye.  He logically gave the #14 qualifier, Marina Stever, the other bye, and then set himself up against Stever in the round of 8.  However, Marina came up with the big win in the two game match 438-417 to advance to the final four.  It was a tough end for Hatchett, but he still made headlines, shooting 300 in the qualifying round, his second in three JBT events, and sandwiched between a 300 in another event last week, for 300 games in competition three weeks in a row! 

        In the final four, Jakob Butturff stopped Stever with yet another massive performance, this time an 11-strike barrage in a 290-169 win.  In the other semi, Danny Varholdt beat Dallas Leong 258-215, setting up the finale.  The title match remained in doubt until the ninth frame, where Jakob got an incredible break, turning a 4-7 into a strike.  Great streaks almost always have a bit of luck tossed in as well, but great champions take advantage of their breaks, which he did by striking out for the 258-225 win.  The title is the landmark 20th of his JBT career, joining Kyle King, Steven Black, BJ Baker, Kris George, Cameron Smith, and Andrew Cain as the only 20-time JBT winners.

        In the handicap division, Brendan Lindsey claimed the top seed, giving him the advantage of setting up each round of matchplay.  He chose wisely, beating Kevin Mette and LeeAnn Reyes to get to the final four, where he beat newcomer Natallie Kowalski 253-205 to reach the final.  In the other semifinal, Cardines and 6 year-old Daryus Alo put on a terrific show, with Cerell winning 240-127 to advance to the final match.

        Neither Cardines nor Lindsey are camera shy, and the title match was entertaining enough before a ninth frame 5-7-10 from Cerell brought a roar from the crowd.  He could have folded after that, but instead Cardines converted a 3-10 in the tenth to force Lindsey to double to win (which he's done before).  This time though, Brendan didn't get the strikes, and Cerell claimed his first JBT title with the 263-255 thriller.

        Stever augmented her 4th place open finish with a JBT Women's Series win, defeating Savannah Carr 193-160 for her 7th girls' title of the season.

        Thanks as always to Red Rock for being wonderful hosts for our Tour.  All ages and all averages are having a blast at JBT events- you should be here too!  Check out our schedules and come on down, that's all there is to it!