WILDFIRE LANES

champs Cortez Schenck & Dee Handley

        Cortez Schenck made it a four-peat at Wildfire, while Dee Handley got to the winner's circle in dramatic fashion, in exciting JBT Mojave Conference action at Henderson's Wildfire Lanes.

        Alex Watanabe began his first Mojave scratch stepladder of the season with a 196-169 win over Brandon Russom.  Schenck then began another climb to a title with a 213-165 win over Watanabe.  Cortez then ground out a 193-170 win over Dallas Leong, who had led most of the day, to reach the title match.

        Russ Oviatt took over the lead with a good final game, but Schenck had the momentum coming off those two wins.  Neither bowler could get much going on the tough 'Seoul' lane pattern in the title match, but in the end Cortez had just enough for the 195-193 win.  In addition to his 31st career JBT title, it's also his fourth in a row at Wildfire, the building where he won his first scratch title waaaaay back in 2012.

        Dee Handley's climb up the handicap division stepladder began with a thriller, as she edged Alayna Purdy by just one pin, 214-213.  If that wasn't enough, she did it again in round two, this time one-pinning Keon Bugarin 208-207!   Her six-pin margin over Tre Mitchell in a 222-216 semifinal win must have felt like a landslide, as she moved on to the title match.

        Top seed Talon Hendrickson led since game five of the tournament, but there was no stopping Handley by this point.  Though it stayed fairly close, Dee pulled out the 226-204 win, earning her first career JBT title, with an only 30-pin margin of win through all four stepladder games!

        Handley's day got even better, as she got by all-conference points leader Alexis Atkin 190-177 for the day's Women's Series title.

        Thanks as always to Alex and the crew at Wildfire for a great job hosting us.  Want in on the fun?  Check out our schedule and come on down, that's all there is to it!