CLIFF CASTLE CASINO

champs Kyle Duster & Justin Worthington, with U17 and Girls winners Kevin Lu & Abby Franklin

        Perserverance paid off big-time for two bowlers, earning them JBT titles in exciting Arizona Conference at Cliff Castle Casino's Shake, Rattle, and Bowl.

        Keith Fung, looking for his third consecutive Arizona Conference Sunday win, kept the dream alive with a 255-217 win over Chris Ortega.  The dream abruptly turned into a nightmare when a missed spare on the Fung's fill ball let Carson Opela escape with a 181-180 win in round two.  The tables turned in round three, when Cortez Schenck appeared to lose with a 5-7 in the tenth, only to have Opela open himself, giving Schenck an unlikely 181-176 win to advance to the title match.

        Kyle Duster sat at -83 after three games and -61 after four games, well out of the cut line.  He then blasted 279 to get into the cut, and just kept on striking, firing 300 the next game to take the lead and never looked back.  Schenck never got comfortable on the title match pair, and Duster stayed in control for the win, and the 17th title of his JBT career, his first singles win of any kind in a full year. 

        Justin Worthington, a first-time finalist, ended the incredible 16 match stepladder winning streak of Elijah Melchor 197-176 in round one of the handicap finals.  Justin then defeated CJ Todeschi 223-181 in round two, and followed with a 219-176 win over Shawn Seng Jr to advance to the title match.

        Fellow first-time finalist Kevin Lu also found himself well out of the cut early, sitting at -63 after two.  A 250 third game got him out of the hole, and he climbed steadily to the top seed from there.  Worthington, making the most of finally breaking through into a finals, stayed on a roll, defeating Lu for the title, the first of his JBT career. 

        Lu was consoled with the win in the U17 side event, beating Seng for that honor.  Abby Franklin claimed the Girls Scratch side event with a win over first time finalist Catelyn Croutch.

        Duster received a $300 bonus scholarship from Cliff Castle for the perfecto- big thanks to them for that, as well as for their great hosting job all weekend!  Want in on all this fun for all averages and all ages?  Check out our schedule and come on down!