AMF UNION HILLS

champs Jakob Butturff & Connor Lawrence

        In the middle of a season of unprecedented dominance, Jakob Butturff put on perhaps his most dominant display, while Connor Lawrence reminded us that it's still any age and any average that can and does win with us, in an exciting wrapup to the JBT Arizona Conference regular season at AMF Union Hills.

        On a very demanding Winding Road lane condition that produced a -71 cut, Butturff put together a 290 game two, and wrapped up qualifying with a perfect 300, for a +261 total that was 162 pins ahead of second place Kyle King.  He added 705 in the semifinals to qualify first at +456, 224 pins ahead of Cortez Schenck for second, and a whopping 425 pins ahead of 5th place qualifier Shane Valleau!

        Austin Thompson, aided by a big-4 conversion mid-game, began the stepladder finals with a 198-174 win over Valleau.  King then stopped Thompson, 211-186, leaving the two current contenders to King's throne atop the JBT world ahead of him.  The semifinal match against Cortez Schenck was a blowout, as Kyle cruised past the 17-time winner 257-130. 

        Cortez vs. Jakob would have obviously been a terrific storyline, but Kyle vs. Jakob was just as intriguing, as Butturff is rapidly breaking many of King's records that were previously thought to be unbeatable, and they now had a chance to face each other head to head.  Both are proud champions who surely wanted this win a little more than others, but as it turned out it was no match at all, as Jakob continued a scoring pace you just shouldn't be able to put up on this pattern, beating Kyle 249-183 for the title.  It's his twentieth of the season, and 26th of his career.  He was missing only third high game and leading round one from earning every point possible on the day, something which has never been done.  Don't bet against him doing that too sometime soon. 

        Destiny Johnson opened the 8-bowler handicap stepladder with a 241 game that beat Justin Lawrence (183) and Marguerite Evans (192).  A terrific round two ended with Connor Lawrence's 239 beating Alexis Norton's 190, and edging Johnson's 238 by just one pin.  Lawrence then rolled a semifinal 214 to eliminate Rance Dvorak (193) and Michael Chamot (189) to advance to the title match.

        Lawrence, a beginner who followed his brothers into JBT competition, then took on top seed Anthony Dang, a three-time champ this season battling Alexis Atkin for the all-conference title.  In the match, Dang struck seven times, but opened in every other frame, resulting in only a 157 scratch game that Lawrence was able to get by 211-189 with pins, earning the first JBT title of his career.  Connor and Jakob each earned an extra $25 for the win, courtesy of Bowling Dynamics.

        Courtney Schultz threw a clutch tenth frame double to defeat Atkin 193-191 to earn the day's Impact Bowling Women's Series event, sweeping the weekend and getting to the required three wins to lock in her spot at the Girls TPC this summer.

        Thanks to the crew at Union Hills for being great hosts.  Qualifying bowlers no advance to the Arizona Invitational, featuring a $1,000 top scholarship prize!