BRC PREMIER

champs Jakob Butturff & Natasha McGuire

        Jakob Butturff and Natasha McGuire avoided the 'rising tide' in San Diego, capturing JBT titles in exciting Southern California Conference action at BRC Premier.

        After the five game qualifier in 'rising tide', bowlers with the lowest overall totals are eliminated game by game as the 'tide' rises and washes them away.  Oscar Chan led the scratch division by averaging 250 on the highly scoreable 'Paris' lane pattern.  Cortez Schenck was eliminated in game one, then Wesley Low and Brandon Wanders succumbed to the tide.  Bobby Hornacek, Austin Thompson, and Ben Canfield were washed out to sea in the next round, meaning that five bowlers were left and four would be eliminated in the next round, making this the final game.   Kyle Duster, sitting fourth, had the high game of the round, a 266, to earn the 40 bonus pin 'lifeline', which vaulted him to second, but it wasn't enough to catch Butturff, who led going into the game, and rolled 213 for a +356 total that beat Duster by 39 pins.  After a slower start to the new season, Jakob earns his first win of 2013-14, but 27th career JBT title.

        Seventeen handicap bowlers started the rising tide round in handicap, so the eliminations lasted two extra rounds.  The key game was round five, where seven survivors would be cut all the way to two.  Qualifying leader Matt Green was swept away in that round, leaving only Natasha McGuire and Tyler Giedd standing.  Giedd was 52 pins behind McGuire, but with a 60-pin 'lifeline' up for grabs, the championship was still up for grabs.  Natasha outscored Tyler in the final game to hold him off and capture the first title of her JBT career.

        Correen Lieber has been traveling all over the Tour racking up Women's Series wins, and she did it again here, beating Katelyn Corwin 213-172 for the day's Women's title.

        Thanks to the crew at Premier for a fine job hosting us.  Want in on all this fun for all ages and averages?  Check out our schedule and come on down, that's all there is to it!