SO CAL INVITATIONAL

champs Kris George & Justin White

Two Arizonans made a long trip worth it, capturing a $1,000 scholarship each as champions of the JBT SW Southern California Conference Invitational Tournament, held at Forest Lanes.

Danielle Schilling led the scratch division qualifying at +119 over five tough games. She and nine others joined five exempt bowlers from the season-long points race, plus last-chance squad winner Steven Black, in the exciting triple-elimination matchplay finals.  

After six rounds, the field was whittled down to the final six survivors.  In round seven, Jeremy Medina eliminated Black, while two other bowlers staved off elimination: #15 seed Kris George, with a win over #12 Josh Wilson, and #8 Kevin Valmonte, with a win over top-seed Brian Carmichael.

In round eight, Valmonte enjoyed a much-needed bye, while Wilson eliminated Carmichael 216-203, and George eliminated Medina 223-211.  This left three bowlers, giving Wilson the bye, and in the penultimate match, George eliminated Valmonte in a thriller, 205-204.  

Kris topped off a dream tournament in the final match by defeating Wilson 247-219, capturing his 5th JBT title of the season, and the 11th of his career.  The $1,000 first place scholarship pushed him over $7,500 in career JBT earnings.

In the handicap division, Erika Garcia led the qualifying round, and nine others joined the five exempt bowlers and last-chance winner Kyle DeCew in the triple-elimination finals.  Six grueling rounds of matchplay left six bowlers standing, all of them with two losses except undefeated Nick Powanda.  In round seven, Powanda fired a 279 scratch game to eliminate Justin Basom, while Justin White eliminated Brenden Lou 222-172, and Kyle DeCew ousted Christina Fraijo 269-172.  

With three bowlers left, White enjoyed a bye, while poor De Cew had to go up against Powanda, who continued to awe the crowd, this time firing a 290 scratch game to eliminate a helpless DeCew and leave only Powanda and White alive.

This set up a situation where White would have to win three straight times to capture the title.  However, Justin has had plenty of experience in similar situations, since he's the 2005 Arizona Invitational champion, and he was able to remain confident against such a daunting task.  He won game one over Powanda easily, and then took game two against Nick, who was suddenly struggling.  After a close first half, White was able to pull away from an understandably heartbroken Powanda (who still earned $515) in the final game, capturing the title, his 4th,  in incredibly dramatic fashion.  

Thanks to everyone a Forest Lanes for a great job hosting this event.  71 qualifiers shared in the $7,385 in scholarships awarded, bringing the total awarded by the JBT SW to over $800,000 to junior bowlers of all ages and averages!

The 2006-07 So Cal season is tentatively scheduled to begin August 26, but there are plenty of JBT tournaments in Arizona and Nevada in between- visit our schedule at www.bowljbt.com for all the details!