BEDROXX

champs Cameron Smith & Scott Wilhelm

        Cameron Smith's amazing JBT career reached another historic level in historic fashion, while Scott Wilhelm avoided an historic collapse to win for the first time, in exciting JBT action at Tucson's Bedroxx.

        Curtis Lindeman began a climb up the scratch division stepladder with a 258-189 win over Cortez Schenck- 'Tez', who turned 13 over the weekend, won his first scratch title last week in Nevada, and amassed a dozen scratch top 5 finishes BEFORE he even became a teenager- wow!  Lindeman next defeated Kyle Karpovich 203-183, but Kyle wasn't too upset, having rolled his first JBT 300 game (and first in any competition) during matchplay- congrats!  Curtis then doubled in the tenth to defeat Joe Lewandowski, who was right behind Smith on the scoreboard all day long, 214-205, to set up a power-player title match.

        Smith has done an awful lot of amazing things in his JBT career, highlighted by wins on some of the toughest lane conditions we've laid out.  However, given lots of room to play today, Cameron showed he can strike with the best of them just as well, firing 289-299-847 to open the tournament, the highest three-game series by an under-22 bowler in JBT history!  (Steven Black's 897 three consecutive games in 2001 will likely always be our 3-game record, but Smith's was an actual 'series' by definition).  Smith had a crack at the 5 game (+324, Smith went +288) and 8-game (+503, Smith went +488) records as well- and would have had the 8-game record if not for a 1-2 matchplay tally despite a 746 matchplay set- but he likely had bigger things on his mind: a win. 

        That win remained in doubt until the final frame, when Lindeman, an up-and-coming star himself, actually had a chance to shut out Smith in his tenth frame, before a brutal solid-7 left Cameron just needing a mark to lock it up.  Surprising to exactly nobody, Cameron flushed ten back, winning the tournament with the 237-214 victory.  The title was the 30th of Smith's career, so he joins Black, Kyle King, and BJ Baker as the only members of the 30-title club in JBT history!

        Wilhelm was the previous day's runner-up at Golden Pin due to a crushing title match loss, but recovered to sneak into the finals today by just six pins to get a chance to avenge himself.   He began a march up the handicap stepladder with a 235-208 win over fellow Saguaro High team member John Patterson.  Wilhelm next defeated Carter O'Neal 204-197, before defeating another Saguaro bowler, "Mr. Consistency" Josh Walsh 249-234, to reach the title game.

        Top seed Brooke Martinez had topped the very high scoring field, but looked to be hopelessly behind in the middle of the title match, before a late triple and an open from Wilhelm turned the match completely around.  It must have been very nasty deja-vu all over again for Scott in his tenth, as he missed a 3-9-10, giving Brooke a chance to spare for the win.  Martinez' tenth frame effort looked good, but the 5-7 stood, and when she was unable to convert, a stunned Wilhelm claimed the 214-208 win, and the first title of his JBT career.  Both bowlers earned an extra $25 bonus as champions of the event, courtesy of Bowling Dynamics Pro Shops, and Cameron earned an extra $75 in gift cards from Advantage Bowling Pro Shops for the high scores and the win.  Thanks to all of these great shops, and our other terrific sponsors, for working together to help out our bowlers!

             Brooke was consoled, though, with a 225-212 win over Courtney Dutton to capture the day's Impact Bowling (another terrific shop) Women's Series, the second of three wins she needs to qualify for the 2012 Girls TPC this July.

            In total, over $1,300 was earned by bowlers of all averages and all ages 21 and under- want in on the fun?  Just check out our schedule and come on down to the next JBT event, it's that simple!

For more info, feel free to write us at jbtsouthwest@aol.com.