CLIFF CASTLE

champs Oscar Chan & Brooke Martinez

        Brooke Martinez and Oscar Chan survived their respective fields, capturing JBT titles in exciting Arizona Conference action at Cliff Castle Casino's Shake Rattle and Bowl.

        In 'survivor', after five qualifying games, equal numbers of bowlers are put on each pair, with the low game out on each pair, until only one survivor remains.  In the scratch division, ten survivors were carved down to four, and in those semifinal matches, Cortez Schenck beat Russ Oviatt 213-177, and Oscar Chan doubled in the tenth frame to defeat Kyle King 182-173.

        In the resulting title game, Chan was locked in from the start, while Schenck struggled on the challenging pair.  In the end, Chan blew the game open for a 244-168 win, and the fourth title of his JBT career.

        Twenty-four handicap survivors were eventually whittled down to just six, and in those matches, Brooke Martinez beat Joshua Molloy, Abby Franklin beat Brooke's brother KJ, and 6 year-old Ashley Lamb beat Zach Rapp, setting up an all-female final three.  In that three-way match, Brooke (233) and Ashley (212) beat out Abby (187) to move on to the title game.

        Lamb had impressed all weekend long with preternaturally good bowling, and continued it in the title match with a 163 scratch game.  However, Martinez came up with a brilliant 214 of her own, and adding in the handicap gave her the 234-226 win, and her fifth career JBT title.

        Gillian Coyle gained the top seed for the Women's Series simultaneous event for the first time, but came up just one pin short in her title game against Kristen Lee, as Kristen won 159-158 for her first title of the season.

        Thanks as always to the Cliff Castle crew for hosting us.  Only JBT provides this much excitement to under-21 bowlers of all ages and averages.  Want in on the fun?  Come on down to our next event, it's that simple!