SPARE TIME LANES

champs Eddy Smith & Riley Basher

        Spare Time Lanes was appropriately named on a fun but very challenging day of JBT Pacific Northwest action, and in the end Eddy Smith and Riley Basher came through with titles in exciting action in Kennewick.

        The lowest scratch cut in quite some time (-166) on the demanding 'Los Angeles' lane condition put a premium on shotmaking and spare-making all day long.  No bowler averaged 200 for the day; another telling stat was that Smith, who went -59 in qualifying the day before to miss the cut by one spot, went -59 again at this event, but that was good enough for second!

        Sixteen bowlers in each division advanced to the 'pick your poison' round, where the higher seeds chose who they wanted to bowl, instead of a standard bracket.  Smith, probably the best grind-out bowler on Tour, got by AJ Brockett in his first round, but top seed Brandon Myers was upset by the quickly improving Josh Alvarez.   In the round of 8, Alvarez was stopped by Sam Burns, while Smith kept rolling, this time getting past Luke Jordan, who took his mullet and 1983 Camaro and went home.

        In one-game semifinals, Burns beat Jake Mullen, was making his first scratch final four, 199-160.  In the other semi, Smith got by Connor Jackley 192-172 to set up the title match.  Sam won the very first Pac NW JBT event in the handicap division in October 2006, but hasn't been back to the winner's circle since.  The title match stayed close, but the difference came down to spares.  Burns missed two 9-counts while Eddy, who surprised nobody by making the finals on a tough pattern, did what Eddy does, throwing a clean, no-doubles 186 (the 192 semifinal game was also clean) for the win, the fourth of his JBT career.

        Alex Perini conquered the tough conditions to lead the handicap division qualifying round, and had no trouble beating Austin Portalksi in round one.  The only thing that looked like it could stop Perini was an injury, and unfortunately that happened in round two, as a split-open thumb forced him to try no-thumb in round two, and it almost worked as Tyler Hogstrom eeked out a 329-314 two-game win.

        Down to four bowlers, Hogstrom took advantage of the break for a 196-190 semifinal win over AJ Schock.  In the other semi, Riley Basher beat Kyle Hays 195-179 to set up the title match.  Hogstrom has bowled well all year, while Basher has good career numbers but no titles.  Riley took care of that early, starting with the front five, and eventually throwing the high handicap game of the whole day in a 269-198 win, earning his first career JBT title.

        Courtney Nikolas qualified for the 2014 Girls TPC with her third Women's Series win of the season.  It wasn't easy though, as she edged talented newcomer Shelby Miller 196-195, with both bowlers opening in the tenth frame.    

        Big thanks to Alan and the crew at Spare Time for a terrific job hosting our Tour for the first time!  Over $3,000 in scholarships were awarded over the weekend- want in on the best under-22 bowling anywhere?  Just check out our schedule and come on down, it's as easy as that!