BEDROXX

A sellout crowd at Tucson's fabulous Bedroxx saw a second Stone give a rock-solid performance, while the scratch division watched what may have been our most exciting title match finish ever in our 299th JBT SW event.

The handicap division finals began with about as close a match as you can get, with Rebecca Bodinet rolling a 222 that squeaked out victory over Justin White (219) and rookie Robin Blunck (220).  

In match two, Rane Lacona put on an inspired performance with a big 253 that ended the days of Bodinet (210) and another rookie, Kevin Magyar (189).  In another very tight match, Lacona's 234 was enough to win the semifinal over fine efforts by Francisco Peralta (224) and Nicholas Lee (214), advancing him to his first title match in a long time.

Top qualifier David Stone took over the lead in game eight, and rolled a confident game in the title match.  Despite a tenacious effort from Lacona, Stone remained in control the whole time, and the result was a 232-216 win for Stone, who claimed his first JBT SW title, joining his brother Richard, who won in September at Kyrene, in the JBT winners' circle.

The scratch division finals opened up with Lanndyn Carnate sending Theo Douthit to his second consecutive fifth place finish, with a 227-155 win.  Carnate had thrilled the crowd earlier by opening the day with a 300 game, the first sanctioned 300 game ever rolled at Bedroxx!

In round two, David Sevier, looking to become only the third bowler to win 4 JBT SW events in a row, got off to a good start by eliminating Carnate, 241-186.  His bid to four-peat looked unlikely in the semifinal match, as Kevin Saunders, the defending champ at Bedroxx, got off to an early lead.  However, Sevier's late 5-bagger gave him the lead in the tenth.  The match had one more turn in it, though, as Kevin's clutch strike in the tenth gave him a 233-231 victory, ending Sevier's bid and advancing Saunders to the title match.

And now, it gets good...

It isn't unfair to say that most of the 04-05 season has been a struggle for Amanda Falk.  However, she put all that to bed in a HUGE way at Bedroxx, opening the day with a 706 set, and then firing off an awesome 221-290-266 in the semis (for a personal best 777), capturing the lead after game 8. As often happens to first-time tournament leaders, her first frames were a struggle, while Saunders began with a triple-spare-double to take a huge lead through the first half of the match.  

Falk tried to climb back in with a strike in the fifth, but a 6-8 in the sixth just about ended her chances... until she began stringing strikes from there, while Saunders' carry began to fail, including a missed bucket in the 8th frame.  Falk struck out all the way through the 11th, finishing with an even 200.  Needing any mark to win, Saunders left a 10-pin, and on the spare, the ball rode the lane's edge before falling off just before the end, tying the match at 200, forcing the first one-ball title match rolloff in JBTSW history.  Falk, electing to go first, struck on her shot, forcing Kevin to do the same.  Regrouping beautifully, Kevin got the strike, and the pressure built even more.  Falk's next ball left a half-7, and Saunders, given another chance to snatch victory back, was up to the test, flushing a strike for an absolutely exhausting win.  

Thanks as always to everyone at Bedroxx for hosting a fantastic event!