NM-TX INVITATIONAL

champs Cameron Smith & Lindsey Sanchez; Girls' Invite champ Adel Wahner

        Cameron Smith continued to build on an historic season, while Lindsey Sanchez picked a great day to win her first JBT title, earning $1,000 scholarships each as champions of the 2012 NM-TX Invitational tournament, hosted by Starlight Lanes at Santa Ana Star Casino.

        After five games on a very demanding condition, the fields were cut to the top 16 for triple-elimination matchplay.  Smith lost his first match, then went on a tear, winning the next six games.  With six bowlers left, Aaron Foshie eliminated Joe Lewandowski, Derek Acuff ousted defending champ Billy Read, and Smith handed Mason Edmondson his second loss in perfect style, tossing a perfect 300 game, his record tenth in JBT competition.  In the next round, Smith eliminated Foshie while Acuff eliminated Edmondson, setting up a title match situation where Derek would have to beat Cameron twice to win the title.

        Smith has a habit or turning up his level a notch when it comes to majors, and that was definitely the case here, as he confidently won the first game 246-212 for the title.  The win locked up NM-TX Bowler of the Year honors, and he pulled off the same Invite-BOY combo in the Mojave Conference last month.  He has the opportunity to do the same thing in Arizona and So Cal in June, a level of dominance never before seen in JBT.

        Sanchez qualified as the number 4 seed, and after a round three loss to Zac Frias, she caught fire and never lost again.  Eventually the 16 finalists were carved down to six, and in that round, Frias eliminated Kelly McNeil, Joleigh Murphy eliminated Steven Acuff, and Sanchez gave Joey Balistreri his second loss.

        In the next round, Sanchez eliminated Frias and Murphy eliminated Balistreri, setting up a title match scenario where Joleigh needed to win twice to take the title away from Lindsey.  Their first game remained close, but in the end Sanchez pulled out a 218-207 win, good for her first JBT title and the $1,000 windfall.   The win was also enough to edge Jonah Seawright for Bowler of the Year honors in a race that came down to the wire (second place would not have been enough).

        The NM-TX Girls Invitational was simultaneously held, and the title match featured Wendy Shelton, gunning for her fifth straight Women's Series win, and Adel Wahner, who led handicap qualifying but lost early in matchplay.   The title match was all Wahner, as she cruised to a 224-179 win, good for a $200 bonus from Women's Series title sponsor Impact Bowling.  Shelton's six wins on the season did earn her Girl Bowler of the Year honors though.

        The top 20 point scorers now advance to the Touring Players' Championship, where this season's top stars will compete for the $2,000 top prize.  Thanks to the crew at Starlight for a great job hosting our weekend, which awarded over $7,000 in scholarships to this season's qualifiers!

        Season 17 of JBT action begins in New Mexico in September- be looking for new dates on our 'schedules' page!