SOUTH PLAINS LANES

champs Carson Opela & John Green (center) with Girls and U17 winners Krysta Carlisle & Daniel Hall

        Two bowlers captured their first JBT titles in exciting TX-NM Conference action at Lubbock's South Plains Lanes.

        After five qualifying games, bowlers competed on 'super survivor' action, where the lowest game and the lowest overall total were eliminated game by game.  Carson Opela and Daniel Hall qualified 1 and 2, and they used that advantage to get all the way to the title match.  After some opening frame jitters, the non-titlists both came up clutch in the second half, with Opela converting a 6-7-10 in the seventh, and then Hall getting the strike he needed on the fill ball to force a 203 tie, sending the match to a one-shot rolloff.  Carson and Daniel both struck on the first ball, but after Opela struck again, Hall left a solid-10, giving Carson his first JBT title in the most exciting finale of the season.

        Newcomer John Green blasted 277 scratch in his opening game for a ridiculous 335 handicap total to race to the lead, but he had plenty of company on the high scoring day, as fellow rookie Cassie Robinson got to within 20 pins of John after ten games to survive until the title match.   However, John saved his second best game of the day for the final, rolling 214 scratch for a 272-229 win over Robinson for an impressive first career JBT title.

        Side event title matches were exciting as well, as Hall got a measure of revenge, winning the U17 event with a 212-200 win over Aileen Linares, who also made the main scratch cut.  Linares had a third chance at a win on the day, this time in the girls event, but Krysta Carlisle came up with a clutch fill ball strike for a 213-212 thriller over Aileen for the girls crown. 

         Big thanks to the team at South Plains for their usual excellent job hosting us.  Want in on all this fun for all ages and averages?  Just check out our schedule and come on down!