JBT NM-TX CONFERENCE INVITATIONAL TOURNAMENT

champs BJ Baker and Andrew McKinsey

     BJ Baker continued an amazing farewell season, while Andrew McKinsey won his first title in major style, at the JBT NM-TX Invitational Tournament, hosted by Bowl El Paso.

    Geoffrey Young led the six-game qualifying round at a blistering 240+ average clip, but struggled in early rounds of the 16-person triple-elimination finals, losing two matches but surviving long enough to earn a bye in round five as the top remaining seed.   Baker earned the #2 seed but had a rough go as well, losing his first two matches, but hanging on to round six as well.  Meanwhile, always-tough #14 Chris Pierson, the last one to make it out of the qualifying round, caught fire in matchplay, going 4-1 through the first five rounds. 

   In round six, Baker eliminated #11 Allie Ijams, #6 Kyle King eliminated Young, Pierson handed #12 Chris Weyrauch his second loss, and last chance squad winner BJ Eichensehr, with only one loss, gave #4 Stephen Gaucin loss #2.

  In round seven, Baker stayed alive again, eliminating King, Weyrauch eliminated Gaucin, and Pierson beat Eichenser for BJ's second loss.  Those results set up an unlikely coincidence, as it was BJ vs. BJ and Chris vs. Chris in the next round, with Pierson eliminating Weyrauch, and Baker eliminating Eichensehr, setting up a finale where BJ would have to beat Pierson twice to win the title.

  Baker's quest to catch all-time JBT leader Steven Black in titles and money will require lots of big wins down the stretch, and he was up to the challenge here, defeating Pierson in two straight games- including a 246-245 thriller in the deciding game- to capture the title, a $1,387 scholarship prize after all optionals, and his 33rd career JBT title.

   Stephanie Barela led the handicap division qualifying round, but like the top scratch seeds, struggled early in matchplay, and was unfortunately unable to right the ship, finishing up in 12th place.  #2 seed Josh Reyes lost only one match in four games to earn a bye, while #10 Alex Clark got through five rounds with only one loss to be in good position for the late stages of the triple-elimination finals.

   In round six, #13 Billy Read eliminated #5 Peter Cane, #6 McKinsey eliminated #3 Zach Prince, Clark gave #14 Josh Barress loss number two, and Reyes did the same to #16 Mike Romero, who was looking to become the first JBT bowler to win an Invitational twice coming from the last chance squad.  In round seven, Mc Kinsey eliminated Read, Romero eliminated Barress, and Reyes gave Clark his second loss.  With four bowlers now left, McKinsey eliminated Clark, while Romero defeated Reyes to stay alive.

  McKinsey thus earned a much needed bye, while Reyes eliminated Romero, to set-up a one-game title match against Andrew for all the marbles.  In that game, Andrew backed up a few brooklyn strikes with some great shots to run away with the win over Reyes, good for the 9 year-old's first JBT title and a $1,000 scholarship, while Reyes was consoled with a hefty $500 runner-up prize.

   Thanks to everyone at Bowl El Paso for another great job hosting our Tour.  Over $7,700 was awarded to the 81 qualifiers- wow!!  Want in on the fun?  Come on down to one of the JBT's big-money summer tournaments, and make plans for the start of the 08-09 season, beginning September 6-7!