CERBAT LANES

champs Russ Oviatt & Brendan Lindsey; girls champ Samantha Potter

        Three bowlers picked up JBT titles in exciting dual-conference action at Cerbat Lanes in Kingman.

        Sebastian Polhill began the handicap division stepladder finals with a 240-169 win over Jopfel Gafate.  Brendan Lindsey then took charge, beating Polhill 250-225, and following with a 265-192 win over April McDonnell, who had been fighting with Gafate most of the day for the tournament lead.

          Mark Sauve used a big final game to jump into the tournament lead, but could not find the same magic against Lindsey.  Brendan had some opens late in the game to make it a match, but in the end righted the ship enough for a 225-205 win and the title.  It's the 5th of his career, but first since January 2014 in the middle of his Bowler of the Year season.

        Scratch bowlers were challenged by the new 'double nervewracker' format, where the lowest two games on each pair were forced to do a one-ball rolloff to survive.  Every bowler who made the final four already had to survive at least one rolloff to get that far, and in that round Cortez Schenck survived with a 10-9 win over early tournament leader Sergio Torres.  With three bowlers left, the talented players suddenly struggled, with Russ Oviatt high on the pair with only with 180, and Derek Acuff (180) and Cortez Schenck (155) stuck in a rolloff, won by Acuff to advance against Russ for the title.

        The pace picked back up again in the title match, as Derek and Russ really showed off their skills on the tough pattern.  After Oviatt finished at 237, Acuff needed a tenth frame double to snag the win away.  He shredded the rack on the first ball, but when the 3-9 wouldn't topple on the second attempt, Russ escaped with the hard-fought victory, and the 12th title of his JBT career.

        McDonnell's fine day continued as top qualifier in the girls' event, but second-seed Samantha Potter stopped her in that title match 199-148, earning Potter her first career girls' title.

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