KEYSTONE LANES

champs Marquan Rivers & Manuel Gonzalez; U17 winner Gael Egana & Girls Scratch winner Renee Gentry4

        Two bowlers earned their first career JBT titles in exciting Southern California Conference action at Norwalk's Keystone Lanes.

        Bowlers competed in best 2-of-3 matchplay after a 5-game qualifying round.  Ryan Howieson earned the top seed in scratch, but fell to newcomer Kyler Orosco in the first round.  #2 Kyle Reed also fell, to #15 Matt Chesnut, opening up the bracket greatly.  #8 Josh Mabry tool full advantage, blasting his first JBT 300 game en route to a win over Orosco, but then fell to #5 Marquan Rivers in a thrilling 244-241 semifinal match.  In the other semi, Chesnut continued to roll, blasting previous day's champ Ryan Lee 242-163 in teh other semi to set up a title match between two non-winners.

        Rivers has been paying his dues on Tour, and it all came together for him here.  In a very well bowled match by both players, "Q" came up with the 244-229 win, earning the first title of his JBT career.

        Manuel Gonzalez was wonderful in qualifying to gain the top seed, and continued the torrid place through matchplay, beating Caleb Rothstein, Shane Howard, and then Connor Steelmon-Hill in the semifinal, to reach the title match.  On the other side of the bracket, Jaclyn Azvedo earned the #2 seed, beat Cameron Criss in round one, but fell to the seemingly unstoppable 8 year-old freight train that is Gage Baker in the semifinals to set up the title match.

        Both bowlers put on great performances in the final, but this time it was Gonzalez doing what few others have done lately, beating Gage 223-211 for the first title of his JBT career.

        Renee Gentry earned a $50 scholarship as the Priority Girls scratch champ with a win over impressive newcomer Pamela Faller.  Gael Egana earned the U17 subdivision crown with a win over Howieson in that title match.

        Thanks to Priority Girl, MSC (who also awarded a $200 progressive bonus to Mabry for the perfecto), and Ebonite, over $2,200 was awarded on the day, and over $4,500 on the weekend, to bowlers of all ages and averages- wow!  Want in on the fun?  Just check out our schedule and come on down!