Cactus Bowl

champs Nick Lee & John Patterson, and a giant happy pickle

        Nick Lee and John Patterson captured JBT titles in exciting Arizona Conference action at Tucson's venerable Cactus Bowl.

        Scratch division bowlers enjoyed the 'mulligan' format, where you get 3 'do-overs' to strategically use throughout qualifying, and earn one more each for making the semifinals and finals.  In an all-California battle to open the scratch stepladder finals, Mark Curtis outstruck Matt Cormack 247-236.  Curtis remained on a roll, beating Timothy Jacob 259-222, ending a fine day for Jacob which included the two highest games of the tournament (298 and 279) and leading 6 of the 8 rounds.  Kyle King then mulliganed Curtis into submission 259-212, having to use three of them to finally string enough to win. 

        Top seed Nick Lee took over in the semifinals with a big series, but struggled early in the title game.  Uncharacteristically, though, Kyle did too, both of them burning off all remaining mulligans by the middle of the game.  In the end, though, Nick had enough left for a 204-183 win, and the 5th title of his excellent JBT career.  Lee made the most of our sponsorship opportunities, throwing Ebonite equipment for a $100 bonus, and wearing the EFX performance bracelet for another $25.

        The handicap division bowled the standard format, and Drew Stern opened up the stepladder finals with a 211-163 win over Pac NW bowler Alan Vancleeve.  Cortez Schenck, a recent winner in Roswell, showed the winning form again in a 251-242 thriller over Stern.  John Patterson then escaped with a 189-184 win over Schenck that came down to the final shot, advancing to the championship game.

        Top seed Cassie Collins dominated the tournament, starting out red-hot and hanging on for the top seed.  Patterson's late triple made a close match between Cassie and him come down to the tenth frame, where Collins left an unfortunate 5-7 which she was unable to convert, resulting in a 203-196 win for Patterson, and the first title of his JBT career.

          Thanks as always to Dale Schnell and the crew at Cactus, a longtime supporter of JBT, for hosting the event, which awarded over $1,700 in scholarships to all ages and averages.  Want in on the fun?  Come on out to the next JBT, it's that simple!