BIG ROCK CASINO

champs Geoffrey Young & Sophie Diaz

        Geoffrey Young and Sophie Diaz picked up JBT titles in the exciting regular season wrapup to JBT New Mexico-Texas action at Big Rock Casino.

        Our 'survivor' action is always exciting as semifinalists bowl one game, do-or-die matches for a few breathtaking hours, but the tension was amped up even more with Invitational berths and byes on the line.   Eventually 15 scratch semifinalists were whittled down to six.  In that round, Young defeated William Entsminger 210-191, Nathan Shock ousted Matt Helmick 220-210, and in a wild one, Dan Romero struck out in the tenth to eliminate Amanda Falk 254-252.

       In the round of three, more high scores meant that Nathan Shock's clean 205 game was no match for Romero (245) and Young (256), who advanced to the title game.  In that finale, Romero's strikes suddenly dried up, while Young showed no signs of slowing down, cruising to a 218-193 win and his 8th career JBT title.

      Handicap division survivors also were carved down to six, and in that round Diaz beat Jeff Russell 203-192, Tonia Barela got by 232-196, and Kyle Pearce ousted Jonah Snell 250-229.   Now with three remaining, Pearce fired a fine 228, but it wasn't enough as Sophie's 234 and Tonia's 246 advanced the two good friends to the title match.

     The final was close in the first half, but Diaz rattled off the back six strikes for a 223 game scratch, which resulted in a 274-221 win for her, and her 3rd career JBT title.

      Thanks as always to Jeff Pearce and everyone at Big Rock for hosting our Tour again.  Over $1,500 in scholarships were awarded to a nearly sold-out scratch field.  Want in on the best action in junior bowling?  Come on out to the next JBT event, it's really that simple!