SO CAL INVITATIONAL

champs Kyle Duster & KJ Martinez

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        Kyle Duster continued to make believers out of the whole Tour, while KJ Martinez returned to his major-winning form, capturing scratch and handicap titles at the JBT Southern California Conference Invitational, hosted by Canoga Park Bowl.

        Qualifiers were challenged by another of our two-pattern events, long on the right lanes, and short on the left lanes.  Scratch bowlers were impressive in their versatility, as it took a +25 5-game total to get into the 16-bowler, triple-elimination finals.  Oscar Chan led qualifying, but struggled early in matchplay, just hanging on to earn a round five bye, and eliminated in round six.  Meanwhile, Mark Myers started 5-0, before Kyle Duster handed him his first loss. 

        Eventually down to six bowlers, Jakob Butturff eliminated Tanner Spacey, Duster eliminated Eric Hatchett, and Kevin Jones gave Myers loss #2.  With four thus remaining, Duster eliminated Jones, and Myers ousted Butturff, setting up a situation where Mark would have to beat Kyle twice to win the title.  Duster raised some eyebrows when he converted to a two-handed delivery to start the season, but he has answered the doubters since by winning his first title earlier this year, and had the answer at every crucial spot in this event, including a 237-202 win over Myers in the first game to lock up the title, his first major, and the $1,000 top prize.

       Handicap points leader Trevor Thompson grabbed the top seed with a great qualifying round, but picked a bad time to go cold, losing his first three matches, leaving him helpless as Nick Condon and Leah Zweig piled on the wins, enough for Nick to pass Trevor in points.  Meanwhile, KJ Martinez beat his sister Brooke to be the only undefeated bowler through four rounds.

        Eventually six bowlers remained, and in those matches, Secilia Kalvelage eliminated Samantha Potter, Leah eliminated Brooke, and KJ gave Condon his second loss.  Now with four left, Condon eliminated Kalvelage, but Zweig stayed alive by beating KJ, leaving three bowlers, which gave KJ a valuable bye.  Zweig and Condon thus played off, with Leah beating Nick 245-223 to eliminate Condon and advance to play Martinez in one more game for the title.  Condon was well-consoled, though, as the third-place finish was enough to boost Nick to the Bowler of the Year honor, however.

        In the final, Martinez, who has struggled for quite a while after dominating the majors two seasons ago, regained the form that was so effective, stringing six strikes early to defeat a fine effort from Leah.  The 237-212 final was good for the 8th title of Martinez' excellent JBT career, tying him with Steven Acuff for the all-time handicap titles lead!

        In the simultaneous So Cal Girls Invitational, top qualifier Ashley Dunn and Brittany Kolatzny, both of whom made the regular scratch cut as well, squared off for a $200 winner-take-all bonus, courtesy of Impact Bowling.  Kolatzny maintained her season-long dominance with a 224-179 win over Dunn, good for the Girls Invite title, as well as the So Cal Girls Bowler of the Year nod.

        Thanks as always to the crew at Canoga for hosting our events.  Over $6,000 in scholarships were awarded to qualifiers of all ages and all averages.  Want in on the fun?  Come on out to our Summer Masters July 5-7 at Fountain Bowl, and season 18 So Cal regular season events which begin in September!