STRIKE GOLD LANES

champs David Jepsen & William Robbins with Will Davis, Morgan Ellis, Kallista Fritts, and Clifford Robbins

       David Jepsen and William Robbins claimed JBT titles in high scoring NM-TX Conference action at Strike Gold Lanes in Pojoaque.

       Prior to the finale, the scratch division was dominated by Daniel Hall, who had a career day, firing 300 in qualifying, and averaging over 250 for the day, with three other legitimate shots at perfection.  He fired 524 for two games in routing Joey MacPhee in his semifinal match, while in the other semi, Jepsen was just as good, blasting 524 for two to defeat Will Davis and advance against Hall for the title.

      Scores finally settled down in the finale, and a clutch four bagger late from Jepsen got him to 214, forcing Hall to throw all three strikes in the tenth for the win.  He was high on his first attempt, and a relived Jepsen claimed his first title with the 214-181 final score. 

        Robbins pulled a bit of a Houdini act to get through to the title, beginning with a win over Jay Heffer when Jay missed a bucket in the tenth frame of the deciding game.  He then got past red-hot Michael Jamael 223-214 in the semifinal.  He almost got to play his brother in the title game, but Kallista Fritts put a stop to that, defeating Clifford 241-195 to move on to the final.

        In an excellent title game, Fritts could not get the strike she needed in the tenth frame, and a stunned Robbins came away with the win, the 8th of his JBT career.  He re-takes the all-conference points lead with the win, in a terrific battle against his brother, with Dawson and Kyle lurking in the wings.

        Fritts looked for revenge in the Priority Girls scratch subdivision, but top seed Morgan Ellis came out striking, firing 235 scratch for her first girls scratch win this season.   Davis and Jepsen had a rematch in the U17 finals, and this time it was Davis coming up with the strikes for that win.