AZ INVITATIONAL

champs Mike Cross & Alicia Sullivan

Mike Cross and Alicia Sullivan claimed $1,000 scholarships each as champions of the 2007 JBT AZ Invitational, hosted by AMF Peoria.

After six games of intense qualifying and a two-game last chance squad, 16 finalists in each division advanced to triple-elimination matchplay, creating almost four hours of do-or-die matches across the center.  After five rounds, 11 scratch bowlers remained, including #9 Cross with two losses, while #11 Matt Cormack was the only undefeated player.

In round six, Cross stayed alive by eliminating #4 Brian Weyrauch, #7 Theo Douthit eliminated #3 Forrest Holland, #1 Josh Blanchard eliminated JR Monteith, while #12 Kevin Narciso handed Cormack his first loss.

In round seven, #7 Douthit got a valuable bye.  Meanwhile, Cross beat Narciso to stay alive and give Kevin loss #2, while Cormack handed Blanchard loss#2.

Cross earned a much-needed bye in round eight, while Narciso eliminated Blanchard, and Douthit edged Cormack to leave four bowlers alive, all with two losses.  In the penultimate matches, Cross defeated Cormack 243-225, and Douthit beat Narciso 247-156 top set up an all-southpaw finale.

Mike and Theo had squared off in an exciting match less than a month ago at Bedroxx, where Mike won his first title.  Cross kept that momentum going here, striking in the tenth to lock up what finished as a 246-244 victory for his first major title.

After five rounds in the handicap finals, top seed Emmanuel Durazo was still alive, but saddled with two losses, and six of the top 8 seeds overall were still in contention, a bit of a rarity.  In round six, #15 Daniel Cotten eliminated #2 James Hawkins Jr., Durazo eliminated #5 Anthony Tripi, #3 Sullivan gave #13 Eric Vitzthum loss #2, and #10 Taylor Knight gave #9 Kyle Frederick his second defeat.

In round seven, Cotten eliminated Durazo, Frederick eliminated Vitzthum, and Sullivan handed Knight his second loss, leaving four bowlers alive.

In round seven, Sullivan eliminated Frederick 192-176, while Cotten beat Knight 225-181, setting up a situation where Daniel would have to beat Alicia twice for the title.

Sullivan had no interest in forcing a deciding game, however, as she remained in control the whole match for a 237-199 win and the championship, the second of her career, and the $1,000 windfall.

102 qualifiers competed in this event, which awarded an eeeeenormous $9,345 in scholarships- wow! The top 20 season-long point scorers now move on to the 2007 JBT Touring Players' Championship, featuring a guaranteed minimum $2,000 first place scholarship per division! 

Big thanks everyone at Peoria for an awesome job hosting the JBT for the first time in six years.  Want in on the fun?  Come on out to the next JBT event, it's as simple as that!