VISTA REC. CENTER

champs Jimmy Hefley & Dan Hansen

      A breathless hour of action in both divisions resulted in Jimmy Hefley and Dan Hansen capturing their first JBT titles in thrilling JBT So Cal Conference action at Vista Recreation Center.

     The scratch division used our Nervewracker format, and as usual, it proved to be exactly that.  Nervewracker uses a 16-person bracket, with matches going to a one-ball rolloff if matches are tied 1-1 after 2 games.  Hefley, who snuck into the #16 spot after a bad final qualifying game, only got 8 on his rolloff shot against top seed Jeremy Glover, but it was enough, as Glover could only manage a 7-count, meaning instant and stunning elimination for Jeremy.  #2 Kyle King was also ousted, in a 2-game sweep by #15 Chris Varholdt.  Other top seeds fared better, with the 3-6 seeds all advancing.

    In the round of 8, Hefley again won a rolloff, this time over #8 Brian Ballard.  Meanwhile, #6 Keyon Lemus swept #4 Cameron Smith, #10 Greg Garbera swept #3 James Hawkins, and #5 Rebeca Reguero swept Varholdt 2-0 to advance. 

    In the semifinal matches, Hefley enjoyed his only relatively easy match, sweeping Lemus in two games, while Garbera and Reguero went to the Nervewracker, with Rebeca winning it 10-8, sending last season's Handicap Bowler of the Year to her first scratch division title match.

   The unofficial "year of the female" continued, with Reguero looking to join Sarah Boe and Chelsea Zemelka as scratch title winners already this year.  Hefley won game one of the finals easily, 230-186, but Reguero countered with a big 254-221 win in game two to force a one-shot rolloff for the title.  Electing to go first, Reguero left a ringing 7-pin.  Jimmy then completed the extremely unlikely journey to his first JBT title by confidently firing a strike for the victory.

   Eric Demo, who has already qualified for his third Invitational of the season by making the finals here, defeated Carol Chui 211-189 in round one of the handicap stepladder.  Round two was a crazy match between Demo and Dan Hansen that ended up in a 180 tie.  In a tense two-frame rolloff, Hansen got the strike he needed on his second shot for a 52-47 win to advance.   In the semifinal, Jeremy Davis could have forced another tie with three strikes in the tenth, but wasn't able to get the first hit, giving Dan a 175-151 win and a trip to the title match.

   It's been the "year of the female", but season 13 has also definitely been "the year of the tie", with rolloffs in key situations happening far more than statistically likely all year long.  This match shaped up to be a good one, with top seed David Fritz looking to avenge a title match loss earlier this season, facing Hansen, a $2,100 Power Bowl winner and tournament runner-up at Vista last year, riding all the momentum in a house he is very confident in.  After Dan finished with 19 in the tenth frame for 207, Fritz needed spare-strike to force- you guessed it- a tie.  David was up to the task, doing exactly that to force the 207 tie, the second title match tie this season already, and the second of the day for Hansen!

   The rolloff appeared to be headed for a second tie as well, with Fritz needing spare-strike yet again to re-tie.  However, after leaving a 2-pin, David hooked by the spare, stunning himself, the crowd, and especially Hansen, who thus escaped with a long awaited first career JBT title.   

  Over $1,500 was awarded to the field.  Thanks as always to Vista for their great hosting job.  Want in on all this fun and excitement? All you have to do is be here!