MOJAVE INVITATIONAL

champs Mason Sherman & Jordan Ferrer

Mason Sherman and Jordan Ferrer picked up $1,000 scholarships each as champions of the JBT's Mojave Conference Invitational Tournament, held at Gold Coast Bowling Center.

After four grueling rounds of triple elimination matchplay, eleven bowlers remained alive in the scratch division, including qualifying leader Sherman, and exempt bowlers #1 Nathan Panaligan, #2 Brandon Allred, and #3 Kris George.  In round five, Nathan enjoyed a bye, while Allred eliminated George, #14 Bobby Majdanski eliminated #12 Eric Warren, Last Chance winner Steven Black eliminated #10 Jensen, #15 BJ Baker handed #13 Mark French his second loss, and Sherman gave #7 Jeff Spiesman his first loss.

Round six saw Majdanski eliminate Allred, Black oust French, Spiesman give Baker loss #2, and Sherman hand Panaligan his second loss.

In round seven, Black eliminated Majdanski, Baker eliminated Panaligan, and Spiesman gave Sherman loss #2.  With four bowlers then left, Sherman eliminated Black 238-187, while Baker stayed alive by beating Spiesman 237-178.  This set up an immediate rematch while Sherman enjoyed the bye, and this time Spiesman eliminated Baker 192-189 to advance to an all-California title match.

The title match was close the whole way, and when Sherman went spare-strike in the tenth, the score was tied at 203.  The first ever one-shot rolloff for a major JBT title saw Sherman win 10-8, giving him his 4th career JBT victory.

Handicap division qualifying was led by Cameron Peck, who was still alive after five rounds of triple-elimination matchplay, along with top seed Alesha Pannier, #3 Jordan Ferrer, and #5 Merrill Hill.   In round six, Ferrer had the bye, while Pannier handed #12 Justni King his second loss, #14 Jenna Graydon gave Last Chance winner Zach Hattori his second loss, #9 Paul Huether eliminated Peck, and #8 Amanda Voight dispatched Hill.

In round seven, Voight was next in line for the bye, while Graydon eliminated Huether, Pannier eliminated Hattori, and King handed Ferrer loss#2.  In round eight, King received a bye, while Pannier eliminated Graydon 211-193, and Ferrer eliminated Voight 241-186.  Then, with three bowlers remaining, Pannier got to enjoy a rare second bye, while Ferrer defeated King in a 244-235 thriller, setting up a title match with Alesha.

Ferrer seems to bring his A game to the Invitationals, having captured the top prize here last year.  Pannier, the point leader and odds-on Bowler of the Year, ran out of gas a bit in the title match, and jordan was able to cruise to a 216-166 win, and his 3rd career JBT title.

 Thanks to everyone at Gold Coast for an absolutely fantastic job hosting the many JBT events held at their center.  88 qualifiers shared in an enormous $7,455 in scholarships awarded at the event.    The top 15 in our season-long points after this event now qualify for the Touring Players Championship, featuring a $2,000 first place scholarship.  We'll see everyone else in September if not sooner for the start of season eleven!