Shake, Rattle, & Bowl

champs Austin Thompson & Kyle Ponzo

        The Austin Thompson show rolled on, while Kyle Ponzo joined the JBT Winner's Circle, as the Arizona Conference of the Junior Bowlers Tour opened its 17th season of exciting competition.

        Jakob Butturff continued his own red-hot roll with a 237-201 win over Mark Myers to begin the scratch division stepladder finals.  Butturff then faced Oscar Chan, who he defeated for the Desert Open title, and Jakob was able to do it again, this time beating Chan 246-221.  Thompson then stopped Butturff 205-192 to advance to the title match.

        Austin, bowling his first scratch JBT event after dominating the summer with handicap wins at the So Cal Invite and the TPC, then had to face top seed Kyle King, who dominated the event all day long, just as he's dominated the Tour for so many years.  However, it's anybody's game in a one game title match, and Kyle struggled early while Austin ran off the front four.  Thompson got visibly (and understandably) nervous down the stretch, but had enough to hold off King 205-199 for the first scratch, and fourth overall, title of his JBT career.

        Stephen Haanpaa celebrated his birthday with a 238-210 win over Jake Hilton to open the handicap division stepladder finals.  Anthony Dang then defeated Haanpaa 212-201.  Dang then defeated Christopher Rouse 224-219 to advance to his first title match.

        Top seed Kyle Ponzo dominated the division, leading seven of the eight rounds.    He handled the pressure of his first title match very well, rolling a solid game to defeat Dang 238-206 and win the first title of his JBT career.

        Marina Stever defeated Savannah Carr 205-169, to win the day's Impact Bowling Women's Series event, the first of three she'll need to win to qualify for the 2013 Girls TPC.

        Thanks as always to Cliff Castle for hosting one of our favorite weekends every year.  Want in on the fun?  Checl out our schedule and come on down to the next JBT event, it's that simple!