SAM'S TOWN

champs Cortez Schenck & Sam Espiritu

        Cortez Schenck and Sam Espiritu reached milestones of very different types, claiming titles in JBT Mojave Conference action at Sam's Town in Las Vegas.

        Nick Pollak began the scratch division stepladder finals with a 199-164 win over Russ Oviatt.  Schenck then stopped Pollak 193-169, and followed with a 204-143 win over Dallas Leong to move on to the title match.

        Top seed Harley Sweigart continued his hot run by leading the event here, and was looking to win a fourth title in a row.  He's gone through Cortez on his way to a few of them, but it was Schenck's turn for revenge this time, as he won the match 213-184 for the win.  It's the 60th of his JBT career, joining Kyle King as the only two bowlers to ever reach that auspicious milestone.

        Daryus Alo snuck into the handicap finals, then began a run up the ladder with a 211-188 win over Kelley Johnson.  Alo then got exactly the 17 pins he needed in the tenth (going gutter-spare-7 to do it) for a 211-210 win against first time finalist Dominic Olivares.  Espiritu then stopped Alo 228-196 to move on to the title match.

        Lexi Cassman led the first game of the tournament and the last round of the semifinals to earn the top seed, but could not maintain the momentum against Espiritu, who gave her little chance with a big opening string.  Sam won the game 247-201 to finally earn his first career JBT title- after all, it is his town.

        Kaylee Am-Khong won her first women's series title with a 168-149 win over top seed Rachael Berg.

        The biggest thrill of the day for anyone not named Sam or Schenck was Jopfel Gafate not only drawing the ace of spades in PowerBowl, but getting all the way to the $5,000 shot, the first bowler to do so.  He came oh so close, but got only 3 pins on the last ball instead of 5, earning the most exciting $50 we may ever have seen.

        Thanks as always to the team at Sam's Town for  a great job hosting us.  Want in on all the fun?  Just check out our schedule and come on down, that's all you have to do!