MIRA MESA LANES

champs Ben Canfield & James McGough

         Ben Canfield found a new way to win a JBT title, while James McGough finally found a way to win a title, in exciting Southern California Conference action at Mira Mesa Lanes.

         The 'beaten path' lane pattern played tricky for most everyone, and even the talented Canfield struggled to a 113 game during qualifying.  However, he recovered brilliantly to make the cut, and then sneak into the number 5 spot for the stepladder finals.  He began those finals with a 224-149 win over Steven Manier.  His look got even better in round two, and he upped to a 246-214 win over talented newcomer Ryan Miller in round two.  Ben then beat Parker Brooks 223-205 in the semifinal to advance to the title match.

        Bobby Hornacek gave himself a nice gift on his 19th birthday by bowling well all day en route to the top seed.  However, it was a dogfight against Canfield, and when Ben doubled in his tenth frame, it looked like it was over.  However, a stunning 6-count on his fill ball left them tied at 202, forcing a one shot rolloff  for the title.  Bobby went first and only got 7, and given a second chance, Canfield took full advantage, and the 9-7 tiebreaker win gave him his 13th career title in a most dramatic fashion.

        Another JBT newcomer, Dawson Reese, opened the handicap stepladder with a 230-196 win over six year-old Nicholas Dorn.  Kylie Shishima then defeated Dorn 214-203.  Another six year-old, Richie Perez, grabbed the number two seed, again showing that any age and any average can an does do well with us.  However, the veteran Shishima was able to come through with a 203-183 win to move on to the title match. 

        Top seed James McGough has been very close to victory before, most notably at the 2013 TPC.  This time, the breaks in a close match went his way, and James came away with the 195-190 win, and his long awaited first career JBT title.

        Shishima avenged her loss with a 208-187 win over Brooke Martinez to win the day's Women's Series event, her first career Women's Series title.

        Thanks as always to the crew at Mira Mesa for hosting our Tour.  Want in on all the fun?  Check out our schedule and come on down, that's all you have to do!