MOJAVE INVITATIONAL

champs Curtis Lindeman, Ryanna Patterson, and Girls' Invite champ Heather Penatzer

        Three Arizona bowlers dominated their respective divisions, capturing JBT major championships at the 2014 Mojave Invitational, hosted by Texas Star Lanes in North Las Vegas.

        Heather Penatzer was easily the top seed for the Girls Invitational, qualifying 140 pins over second-seeded Correen Lieber.  She started strong in the title match as well, but the always-tough Lieber fought back, getting within 1 pin after nine frames.  Heather came up with a clutch double in her tenth, but a short fill ball allowed Lieber to double + count for the win.  Correen got the first strike, but when the second wouldn't carry, Penatzer escaped with a 196-185 win, the Girls' Invite title, and the $200 scholarship bonus courtesy of Women's Series title sponsor Impact Bowling.

        Ryanna Patterson qualified as the #5 seed, then went on a tear, winning her first six games in the exciting triple-elimination format before Trevor Thompson gave her her first loss.  In the next round, Alexis Atkin beat Ryanna, while Kristen Lee eliminated Thompson, leaving only the three Arizona ladies alive, each with two losses.  This gave Patterson a bye, while Alexis and Kristen, each in their final season of eligibility, played a classic semifinal that ended in a 191 tie.  Kristen won the tiebreaker, giving her a chance to play for the title.

        Patterson was the only one of a group of bowlers that travel together to not win a title this season, but she left little doubt in the title match that that was about to change.  She led right from the beginning, eventually winning 234-167 for the first title of her JBT career, and the big $1,000 scholarship payday.

        Curtis Lindeman was in severe danger of missing the cut to the finals, then blasted a 266 game on the demanding patterns- cheetah on one lane, shark on the other- to jump all the way up to the #8 seed.  It turned out it really didn't matter what seed he got, as he then went on one of the most impressive runs in Invitational history, starting with a 6-0 run that left him undefeated and the five other remaining players each with two losses.  He then knocked out Zach Hattori, and watched as Oscar Chan knocked out Dallas Leong, leaving Oscar in the unenviable position of having to beat Curtis three straight times for the title.

        Oscar, the current Main Event champion, bowled great to get this far, but Curtis' look on both patterns was outstanding, and he cruised to a 245-193 win, the $1,000 first prize, and his 7th career JBT title.

        Huge thanks as always to Jerry Francomano and his staff at Texas Star for another great job hosting a JBT weekend.  Over $5,000 in scholarships was awarded to the field of 76 qualifiers- wow!  The top 20 season-long point scorers in each division now advance to the 2014 Touring Players Championship, our biggest event of the year!  Want in on all this excitement?  Join us for our big open-field summer events, and again when the new season debuts this fall!