Cactus (aka Pickle) Bowl

champs Kyle King & Justice Lynch; Women's Series champ Jordeen Koizumi (with ASU teammate Dori Jaffess

    Kyle King joined the parade of back-to-back winners this season, while Justice Lynch enjoyed JBT victory for the first time, in exciting Arizona Conference action at Tucson's Cactus Bowl.

    The Viper pattern really challenged the bowlers, as scores averaged almost 30 pins lower than on the previous day's house conditions, which made the 'drop' part of the 'drop-or-not' format used on the day a relief for most bowlers.  Justin Lou won the opening game of the scratch division finals, e-lee-minating Nick Lee by a 183-160 margin.  Matt Herbert then beat Lou 210-186, before Mark Curtis beat Herbert 181-177, sending Herbert to consecutive third place finishes, and sending Curtis to his first title match.

    Top seed Kyle King had dominated the event until a very low game 8, but still had enough of a lead to hang on to the top spot.  Meanwhile, the consistent Curtis was the only bowler to have not dropped a score in round one, with 4 200+ efforts and a 188.  However, he probably wished he could drop the title match, as the left lane in particular wouldn't cooperate with him, and King was able to cruise to a 189-163 victory and the 33rd title of his JBT career.  Winning Saturday has been a good indication of Sunday's winner in scratch JBT events this season, as King joins Jordan Plunkett, Devin Bidwell, Cameron Smith and Zack Hattori, all of whom have won back-to-back events already this season!

    Ashley Collins and Nick's sister Kristen Lee opened up the handicap division stepladder finals by tying at 180, with Collins escaping 56-43 in the rolloff to advance, which de-lee-ted the Lee family for the day.  Collins then bested Danny "baby Jesus" Varholdt 209-182, before Lynch stopped Collins 213-180 to reach her first JBT title match.

    Top seed Nick Wade was at it again- look out, JBT.  After a missed cut the day before, he spent Saturday night at Cactus practicing, and the dedication immediately paid off with the top seed.  However, it was Nick who struggled in the title match, while Lynch just rolled along, winning the match 212-187 for her first career title.  Justice was feeling very ill in the morning and was minutes away from not even bowling the event- she definitely made the right choice!

    Jordeen Koizumi captured her first JBT Women's Series title with a 176-166 win over Kayla Goad.  Jordeen is now eligible for a $500 scholarship bonus at the JBT Girls Invitational, in May of 2010.  Be sure to check out the Girls Points section at the statistics page of the website for more details on the great JBT Women's Series.

    Andy Holick and Danielle Stewart felt the impact of the Impact Challenge, picking up $25 scholarships each as winners of that contest- visit Impact at 99th Ave & Bell in Phoenix for a great pro shop experience!   

    Thanks to Dale Schnell and the team at Cactus for another great job hosting us.  Over $1,400 in scholarships were awarded- want in on the fun?  Come on out to the next JBT event, it's that simple!

      Look!  The Pickle gave out the plaques!!!