STARLIGHT LANES

scratch champ Curtis Lindeman, with handicap and Women's Series champ Marina Stever

            Two well-traveled Arizona bowlers picked up JBT titles in exciting and busy Easter Day action at Bernalillo's Starlight Lanes.

            Both divisions enjoyed the o.a.d.o.t.a.t. format, which is an acronym for 'one and done or two and through', meaning that after a cut to the top 16 bowlers, higher seeded bowlers had to only win one matchplay game to advance, while lower seeded bowlers have to win twice.  Paul Carper, the previous day's champ, rolled to the top seed again, but couldn't get past #16 Brandon Gill, who upset him in the first matchplay round.  Seeds 2-5 all had better luck and advanced, while #11 Chris Brown ousted #6 William Youder in a big way, going 266-276, the two highest games of the whole tournament, to advance.

            In round two, #8 Aaron Foshie stopped Gill's run, while #4 Lindeman, #14 Labriel Leach, and #2 Billy Read all moved on.  In the semifinals, Lindeman beat Foshie and Leach snuck by Read to set up and all-Arizona title match.

            Curtis has had an impressive debut season learning the ropes in JBT scratch competition.  First he struggled to make cuts before now making most of them.  Then he struggled making finals before figuring that out lately, and hadn't yet been able to finish it off with a win- until today, where he rolled a confident game to defeat 10-time champ Leach 211-180 and finally capture the first of what may be many JBT titles for the multi-nicknamed cranker.

            In the handicap division, Stever earned the top seed after five games and rolled through her first match, as did previous day's winner and #2 Nick Sanchez.  #3 Tanya Paris fell to #14 Aurora Popple though, while #12 Zach Wojociechowski escaped from #5 Priscilla Red in the closest match of round one, by a total of 10 pins over two games.

            In the round of eight, Stever snuck by fellow Arizonan KJ Martinez, #4 Jacquline Valenzuela beat #11 Dale Coffee, Popple got by #10 Tonia Barela, and Sanchez ousted 'Wojo'.  In the resulting semifinal tilts, Aurora won two in a row again to defeat Sanchez, while Marina ended Jacqueline's fine day, set up the title match.

            Stever, again in the thick of the all-conference points race, was simply not to be slowed down today, and ended Popple's excellent 6-0 streak with a 231-186 win, good for the second title of her JBT career.

             Marina's day wasn't over, as she was also the top seed for the day's JBT Women's Series evemt, where she was able to defeat #2 Amber Robinson 184-169 for the title, her 2nd Women's Series win of the season, the only girl with 2 Women's Series wins this season.

             Our annual Easter Egg Hunt provided extra fun for everyone, with sugary yummies a-plenty, and prizes on up to a bonus Ebonite bowling ball, earned by Josh Demick.  Thanks to Michelle Carper for coordinating the Hunt, as well as to the crew at Starlight for another great job hosting our Tour.

            In all, over $1,700 was awarded to bowlers of all ages and averages at the last regular season event of the 2010-11 New Mexico-Texas Conference season.  Eligible bowlers now move on to the NM-TX Invitational in May, with a $1,000 scholarship for first place in each division.