AMF CERRITOS

champs Dustin Grant & Mark Hugelmaier

        Dustin Grant captured his first JBT title, while Mark Hugelmaier made JBT history by capturing his third consecutive victory, in exciting JBT Southern California Conference action at Cerritos Lanes.

        Derek Acuff, who climbed from -47 after three games all the way tp the stepladder, opened the scratch finals with a 244-188 win over Cameron Smith.  Steven Manier then bested Acuff 255-173.  The semifinal match was a thriller, as Wesley Low barely converted the 3-6 in the tenth for a 208-200 win to advance to the title game.

        Top seed Grant, from the Reno area, rolled 483 for the final two games to capture the top seed.  Both talented lefties struck plenty in the title match, but also uncharacteristically missed makeable spares to keep the match close.  In the end though, Grant pulled away for a 221-203 win and his first career JBT championship.

        Hugelmaier, meanwhile, saw his average jump up 24 pins from his back-to-back wins at Canyon Lanes, but was undaunted, claiming the 5th seed for the stepladder finals.  He began a climb up the stepladder with a 212-152 win aver B'aujee Harlan.  Mark then got by Alex Bissett 236-223.  The next match was probably the match of the day, as Robert Lim, who had a thumb injury earlier in the game, flushed the last four strikes to tie Mark at 208.  After Hugelmaier went spare-strike-spare in the rolloff, Lim had a chance to win with a mark and good count, but heartbreakingly chopped a 5-9, giving Mark a thrilling win to reach another title match, and complete the lefty sweep of all four finalists being portsiders.

        Alex Zwingmann grabbed the top seed with a great semifinal performance.  In a virtual repeat of the scratch title match, both bowlers struck plenty, but missed spares they usually make, creating a back-and-forth match.  It was Hugelmaier who righted things first, winning the match 233-204 for the three-peat.  Mark now becomes just the third bowler in our 800+ tournament history to win three consecutive handicap division titles, joining Scott Carnahan in 1999 and Nick Wade in 2009.

         Thanks to everyone at Cerritos for a great job hosting our Tour for the first time.  Over $1,400 in scholarships were awarded to bowlers of all ages and averages- to claim your piece of the fun, check our schedule and come on out to the next JBT event, it's that simple!