MOJAVE DOUBLES

champs Cortez Schenck & Kris Prather and Jeremy & Cerell Cardines

        A high-scoring day of action had even more excitement in store in the stepladders, and in the end the Cardines brothers joined Cortez Schenck and Kris Prather as champions of the JBT Mojave Doubles classic, held at the South Point Bowling Plaza.

        You'd think it was Sam's Town, not South Point, in round one of the handicap finals, as Samm Cosby and Marguerite Evans won a 205-201 thriller over Samantha Conti and Sam Espiritu.  Cosby and Evans then escaped again, this time 193-190 over the sibling duo of Nolan and Kayll Am-Khong.  Their luck ran out in the semifinals, as Kirk Chui and Dawson Reese rolled to a 247-169 win, advancing to the title match. 

        Cerell Cardines and his older brother Jeremy dominated the event right from the start, as Cerell stared the event with 299-300, by far the best two-game start in JBT history.  Jeremy more than did his part as well, way over average all day long as well.  Their +720 seven-game total with bonuses was awesome, but in a stepladder format you still have to win one more game to win it all.  The match stayed close until the end, but the Cardines crew finally pulled away, winning 223-200, for Cerell's 6th and Jeremy's 5th career JBT title.

        The scratch division stepladder was one of the craziest ever, as Austin Thompson watched younger brother Trevor double in the tenth to apparantly win their match against Eric Hatchett and Alex Watanabe, but a greek church on the fill left the match tied at 213, and Hatchett took advantage for a 10-8 win in the tiebreaker to advance.  In match two, Paul Colyer had a chance to double in his tenth to win the game for him and his partner Josh Demick, but Paul couldn't get the hit, and the boys wearing the Irish-rainbow-unicorn shirts lucked out again, this time winning 207-197.  The pace went way up in the next game, as Sergio Torres, and bowling legend Johnny Petraglia's son John Jr. ran the front seven, but that turned out to not be enough, as Hatchett and Watanabe combined for a 261 effort, which held up when Torres could not strike in the tenth frame, finishing with 247.

        All that was enough drama for multiple finals, but more was in store as Eric and Alex took on top seeds Cortez Schenck and Kris Prather.  After multiple bad-break 9-counts, Kris left a 2-10 in the tenth that he didn't convert, leaving the door wide open.  Watanabe got lucky to leave only the 1-2 on his first shot, which he spared, but then a down-the-middle fill ball went awry for a 6-count that amazingly tied the match at 213.  Schenck then left a ringing-10 on his rolloff shot, leaving Watanabe with a chance at redemption.  Unfortunately Alex couldn't regroup, leaving another 6 count that gave the once and future Wichita State stars a breathless win, and the 71st, and perhaps most unlikely, title of Cortez' JBT career.

        Huge thanks to all the adult alumni who came out to bowl with today's JBT stars, as well as to Mike Monyak and the team at South Point for their usual fantastic hosting job.  Want in on all teh fun for all ages and averages?  Just check out our schedule and come on down!