SHAKE, RATTLE, & BOWL

champs Ben Canfield & Carter O'Neal

        Ben Canfield and Carter O'Neal opened the 16th season of JBT Arizona Conference action with exciting wins at Cliff Castle Casino's Shake, Rattle, and Bowl.

        Jakob Butturff, fresh off some of the best summer tournament results nationwide, picked up right where he left off with a 221-183 win to open the scratch division stepladder finals.  Butturff then got by Lanndyn Carnate 242-188, and followed it up with a thrilling 249-245 win over 23-time champion Cameron Smith to reach the title match.

        Ben Canfield leapt into the top seed with a big 709 semifinal set, and like Jakob, had yet to win a JBT title despite a solid '10-11 season.  The match turned out to be a classic, with Canfield throwing the back four to force Butturff to strike on his first shot to win.  When Jakob left a 3-pin, it sealed Ben's 216-209 win and the first title of his JBT career.

        Savannah Carr has a habit of starting seasons strong, and did it again with a 196-185 win over newcomer Devin Callahan to open up the handicap division stepladder finals.  Dakota Thompson then defeated Carr by a big 252-203 margin, and followed that up with a 189-171 defeat of Andrew Dorsey to advance to the championship game.

        Top seed Carter O'Neal had been at or near the top of the leaderboard all day long, and the man with the no-thumb, dual-spins delivery (watch the video!) stayed in control the whole match.  In the end, O'Neal won teh game 223-204 for the first title of his JBT career.

        Courtney Dutton edged top seed Jory Koizumi 181-178 to capture the day's Women's Series event, earning 1 of the 3 wins needed to qualify for the All-Conference Women's Championship next summer.

        Thanks as always to the crew at Cliff Castle for a great job hosting us.  Over $2,000 in scholarships were awarded- if you're 21 and under and want in on all this fun, check out our schedule and come on down to the next JBT event, it's that simple!