CACTUS BOWL

champs Jakob Butturff & Zach Lewandowski

        Jakob Butturff made it a clean sweep on the weekend, while Zach Lewandowski joined his brother as JBT champions, in exciting Arizona Conference action at Tucson's Cactus Bowl.

        Kevin Badke began at attempt to win his second consecutive JBT event with a 202-134 win over Kristen Lee to open up the handicap division stepladder finals.  Local favorite Kiana Garcia then ended Badke's fine weekend with a 204-176 win.  Zach Lewandowski then stopped Garcia 213-192 to move on to the title match.

        Top seed Alex Pellegrino was having an excellent weekend of his own, making the finals yesterday, then staying at or near the top all day to earn the trip to the title match.  Both bowlers played well and neither one was able to get out to a big lead.  In the tenth though, Lewandowski came up with a clutch triple to put the game away, eventually winning 205-202 for the first title of his JBT career.

        Scratch division bowlers were challenged by a tricky 'scorpion' lane pattern and the 'nervewracker' format, where matches go to a one-shot rolloff if they are tied at one game each.  Jakob Butturff dominated the qualifying round just like he has dominated most of the season.  This is sometimes a not so good thing in matchplay, where #1 seeds often fail to defend their rank.  Jakob did win his first match, but not before being pushed to the limit by #9 Ben Subeck, who fell 10-9 in the third nervewracker.  In other macthes, #4 Dempsey swept #12 Tim Crosswhite, #3 Curtis Lindeman swept #12 Aaron Munyon, and #10 Lanndyn Carnate upset #2 Cortez Schenck 2-0.

        Both semifinals were highly competitive and came down to nervewrackers, with Carnate beating Lindeman, and Butturff ousting Dempsey in a battle that was hotly contested throughout.

        Any pattern, any opponent, and they all have been conquered by Jakob this year, and Carnate, whose last title was way back in 2004, turned out to be his next victim.  After a close first game, Butturff pulled away in the second game to win the title.,  It's already his seventh of the season and twelfth of his JBT career. 

        Marina Stever defeated Kristen Lee in a low scoring game to win the day's Women's Series event, presented by Impact Bowling.  She owns five Women's Series titles this season already!

        Thanks as always to the great crew at Cactus for again hosting our Tour.  To get in on the fun, just pick an event and come on down!