SO CAL INVITATIONAL

champs Nick Devlin, Megan Carpenter, & Ryland Pimentel

        Nick Devlin, Megan Carpenter, and Ryland Pimentel captured titles at the JBT Southern California Conference Invitational tournament, hosted by Mira Mesa Lanes in San Diego.

        Little guy Solomon Salama let his bowling ball do some big talking, leading the scratch division qualifying round.  However, he struggled early in the triple elimination matchplay rounds, getting to his round five bye with two losses.   Meanwhile, veteran Joe Grondin cruised through the first six rounds undefeated.  In round eight, Kirk Chui eliminated Kyle Duster, and Nick Devlin gave Joe Grondin his second loss, while Sergio Torres had a bye.  In the next round, Chui eliminated Torres, but bowed out to Grondin in the following round, leaving Joe and Nick alive to play for the title. 

        Devlin had some rough breaks in previous Invitationals, but made his own luck this time through great shotmaking, defeating Grondin for the title and $1,000 top scholarship prize.  Joe's runner-up finish was more than enough to wrap up scratch division Bowler of the Year honors, though.

        The handicap division top seed, Mathew Adragna, struggled in matchplay also, getting to the bye with two losses then bowling out six.  By round eight only four bowlers remained, and in that round #4 Ryland Pimentel eliminated #6 Megan Carpenter, and #7 Jeff Rodda stopped #16 James McGough (who captured Bowler of the Year with the 4th place finish), setting up a title match where Rodda would have to beat Pimentel twice to win the title.  Ryland was not about to give Rodda a chance to get to a one game situation, cruising to a win and the title, the second of his JBT career, and big $1,000 payday.

        Megan Carpenter's big weekend reached a crescendo with a title match win over Kaylee Am-Khong in the Girls Invitational.  The $200 winners' bonus prize, plus the third place finish in the handicap division, and the win yesterday, put her over the $1,000 mark in scholarship earnings this weekend alone!

        Big thanks as always to the team at Mira Mesa for hosting us.  Over $5,600 was awarded to the 84-qualifier field.  Want in on all this fun for all ages and averages?  Just check out our schedule and come on down, that's all you have to do!