RED ROCK LANES

champs Zack Hattori & Justin Freeman

        Zack Hattori and Justin Freeman survived challenging conditions and tough opponents to earn JBT titles in exciting Mojave Conference action at the beautiful Red Rock Lanes in Las Vegas.

        Ten scratch division survivors advanced to matchplay, where higher seeds chose the roster on each pair.  When it got down to four bowlers, top seed Wesley Low chose to play Joe Gerencser, who was making his second straight top 5 to start his scratch career, and beat him 234-171.  In the other semifinal, Hattori stopped Dallas Leong, who settled for back to back third place finishes on the weekend with a 233-219 loss.

        The title match between former and present Team USA bowlers was a one-sided affair, and if we told you that, you might think Wesley won, since he was crushing the tough pattern all day and Hattori owned the incredibly unlikely stat of not having won a JBT event since December of 2009.  However, it was Zack who made the shots in the title game, throwing the second highest game of the day in a 255-187 win to FINALLY earn the 12th title of his excellent JBT career. 

        Fifteen handicap survivors were carved down to six, and in that round Elijah Lomotan beat Veronica Schleicher 212-169, Freeman ousted Nathan Hanuscin 231-191, and top seed Josh Wilson was upset by Kyle Rendon 190-167.  A three-way semifinal match then ensued, with Lomotan (209) and Freeman (198) eliminating Rendon (187), who had come all the way from the bottom seed, to set up the title match.

        The two first-time finalists struggled through a back and forth match on the tough 'Phantom' lane condition, but in the end the likable (and loud!) Freeman pulled away for a 208-183 win, and the first JBT title of his career.

        Veronica Schleicher made the women's series title game for the second straight day, but had to settle for the runner-up spot again as well, as this time Leah Glazer grabbed the top seed after qualifying and then beat Schleicher 190-171 for the day's girls title.

        Thanks as always to the crew at the spectacular Red Rock for hosting our Tour again.  What a great opening weekend for the Mojave Conference- you need to be a part of this!  In order to do so, just check out our schedule and come on down, that's all you have to do!