SO CAL DOUBLES CLASSIC

champs James Hawkins / Cameron Smith & KJ Martinez / Brooke Martinez

        A day filled with historic events saw a veteran California duo and an Arizona brother-sister outfit win titles at the So Cal JBT Doubles Classic, hosted by Canoga Park Bowl.

        Riley Dempsey and Mark Myers, the defending champions of this event, opened the scratch division Baker-style stepladder finals with an unlikely 214-213 win over Kyle Duster and Travis Hewitt, when Hewitt somehow chopped the 4 off a 4-7 in the tenth frame.  Steven Manier, who rolled one of five (yes, five) perfect 300s on the day, then teamed with Brandon Kraye for a 219-175 win over Dempsey and Myers.  East-coast JBT alumni Rob Piroozshad and DeeRonn Booker then beat Manier and Kraye 199-180 to advance to the title match.

        Top seeds Cameron Smith and James Hawkins combine for a ton of JBT titles and a ton of revs, so had to move very deep on the drying out lanes to try and strike.  They were able to do so, winning the game 234-198 for the 26th and 9th titles of their JBT careers, respectively.

        The high-scoring history was made in the qualifying round, as Piroozshad opened the event with 274-299-300 for an 873, the highest true series ever rolled in JBT competition (Steven Black's 299-300-300 in an Invitational matchplay block remains the nearly unbeatable 3 consecutive game record).  Also, an unbeatable record was set by Jeremy Glover and Jared Lawrence, who in game three of qualifying each rolled 300 for a 600 team game, the first to ever accomplish that in JBT competition.  Former JBT star Mason Sherman had the other 300 on the day, rounding out the high scoring theatrics on a day that still somehow produced a fairly normal scratch cut and even a slightly low handicap cut- but those who had it, really really had it!

        The handicap finals opened with the adult-junior team of Leah Zweig and Julie Stewart defeating Rance Dvorak and Jake Bryan 185-178.  Lean and Julie then edged BJ Harlan and Stephanie Zavala 175-169.  The semifinal match was also low scoring, with Marguerite Evans and Shelby Dempsey getting past Zweig and Stewart 178-150 to advance to the title game.

        Top seeds KJ and Brooke Martinez took over the lead in the last game of round two, and the well-traveled veteran duo stayed in control the whole title game, winning 218-183.  The win was the 6th of KJ's career (and the finals was the 27th, tying Steven Acuff for the record), and the long awaited first of his sister Brooke's career.

        Thanks to all the adults and alumni who took the time to compete with today's JBT bowlers, and to the team at Canoga for hosting our event.  Over $2,600 in cash and scholarships were awarded- want in on all this excitement?  Check out our schedule and come on out to the next JBT event, that's all there is to it!

Jeremy Glover (300) and Jared Lawrence (300) = 600 team game!

Rob Piroozshad, 274-299-300=873!