ACME BOWL

champs Ryan Nikolas & Silas LeBlanc with Girls champ Sara Harris

        Ryan Nikolas remained perfect on the new season, while Silas LeBlanc tasted victory for the first time, in exciting JBT Pacific Northwest Conference action at Acme Bowl in Tukwila.

        Michael Creel opened the scratch division finals in style, blasting 11 strikes for a 278-212 win over Jerry Jennings.  Creel, who also had a 279 in match play, kept the strikes rolling with a 221-192 win over Jake Mullen in round two.  Previous day's champ Ryan Nikolas probably figured he'd need a big number to win the next match, and that's exactly what he came up with, outscoring Creel 269-229 to reach the title match.

        Top seed Makana Wong is also off to a hot start this season, finishing second in the non-champs event and following it up by earning his first top seed ever here.  He performed brilliantly with a 242, but unfortunately for him the match was over mid-game, as Nikolas fired seven of the first eight strikes en route to a 268-242 win, good for the 17th title of his JBT career.

        Scores were solid in the handicap stepladder as well, which began with 2016 TPC champ Evan Smith beating Sara Harris 256-216.  2017 Sportsmanship Award winner Olivia Kolppa then squeezed by Smith 226-222.  LeBlanc then turned the tables on Kolppa 247-216 to advance to his first title game.

        Top seed Jonathan Lorey loves Acme, having won his first title here last year, and cruising to the top seed this year.  He remained in control until a bizarre second half which saw him leave the 5-7-10 and then make the 4-9.  However, LeBlanc recovered from two early gutter balls to strike out from the ninth, forcing Lorey to fill 20 pins to win.  After 9-/, he had to strike on the fill to tie, and when two pins remained, LeBlanc claimed a thrilling first career JBT title.

        Smith and Harris met again in the Priority Girl's Scratch title match, this time with Harris coming out on top 185-183 for the $50 bonus and keepsake bracelet.  The U17 crown went to Bradley Baltazar, who beat top seed Tyler Coates 192-175 for that win.

        Thanks as always to the team at Acme for hosting our Tour.  Want in on the fun for all ages and averages?  Just check out our schedule and come on down!