SILVA LANES

champs Labriel Leach and Roger Johnson

            Labriel Leach set a unique JBT record, while Roger Johnson tasted JBT victory for the first time, in terrific NM-TX Conference action at Silva Lanes.

            The bowlers tore up the PBA Cheetah pattern, scoring significantly higher as a group than they did on the house shot the previous day.  Nick Lee and Jess Gagliardi opened up the scratch division stepladder finals with a match that was typical of the day, with Nick coming away with a 257-248 win.  Brian Burkett, making back-to-back finals on the weekend, then beat Lee 213-193.  Leach then doubled in the tenth to lock up a semifinal win over Burkett, 227-225, to advance to the title match.

            Paul Carper, taking advantage of our change to an age-based scholarship Tour, claimed the top seed with consistently solid bowling all day.  Leach, however, has been on a roll in JBT lately, and was looking to claim his first win since 2006.  The match looked to be a blowout for Labriel, until a late open from Leach and Carper striking out from the 7th forced Leach to fill twenty pins in the tenth for the win.  After a key strike on the first ball, Labriel spared a 10-pin for the 216-215 thrilling win.  With the victory- the 5th of his career- Leach becomes the bowler with the longest span between his first and most recent wins, having won his first title on 2/26/2000- wow!

            Lacey Shelton went on a tear up the handicap division stepladder finals.  She began with a 243-228 win over Kirk Russell in round one.  She exploded for a 269-197 win over Marcos Armijo in round two, and followed with a big 247-181 win  over the previous day's champion, Shawna Bellman, to reach the title match.

            Top seed Roger Johnson had had an up-and-down 24 hours to say the least, being involved in a rollover accident the night before (everyone was okay, thank goodness).   He then proceeded to have the best day of his JBT career, grabbing the lead after game six.  He remained in control the entire title match, and his 247-193 victory earned him the first title of his JBT career.

           Thanks to everyone at Silva's for another great job hosting our Tour.  Over $1,500 in scholarships were awarded to bowlers of all averages- want in on all this fun and action?  Check out our schedules and come on down to the next JBT event, it's that simple!