KEARNY MESA BOWL

Champs James Hawkins & Randi Speiler

       Our "survivor" format has never been more aptly named, and James Hawkins and Randi Speiler were the last ones standing in thrilling JBT So Cal Conference action at Kearny Mesa Bowl.

       A challenging lane condition was used for both divisions; in direct contrast to the generally easier house condition the day before, a 200 average was good enough to make the scratch semifinal field on Saturday, but 179 was enough on Sunday.  From there, our exciting Survivor format meant one-game matches, with the lowest score out on each pair.  Eventually the 20 scratch semifinalists were whittled to four.  In semifinal action, Hawkins beat Greg Garbera, who now has 4 straight top-5 finishes at Kearny Mesa, 207-184, while Cameron Smith got by James Hefley, who made both finals this weekend, 190-180, to set up an all-Californian title match.

     Hawkins struggled a bit last season, while Smith won two JBT major titles (Mojave Invite and Best in the West), but it's a new season and a new result for Hawkins, who claimed his first scratch JBT title with a 219-188 victory.

     One of the most memorable handicap survivor rounds ever began with a tie just to make the semifinals, which Jeff Ingram won over John Wright.  Ties remained the order of the day, with tense battles all over the center as the 20 semifinalists were eventually whittled down to 4.  In one semifinal, Brett Hirsch eliminated Tim Keegan with a 183-169 win. In the other semifinal, Randi Speiler spared in the tenth to appear to beat Erika Garcia, but Speiler only got 6 on her fill ball, to tie the match at 182.  Randi did escape in the rolloff 41-31 to advance to the title match.

    A seesaw battle between Hirsch and Speiler made for an entertaining title match, and when Hirsch opened in the tenth frame, the extremely unlikely yet seemingly inevitable happened- they tied at 196.  With a chance at redemption in the rolloff, Hirsch unfortunately suffered another last-frame open, and this time it was enough for the resilient Randi to escape 39-34 for the title, the first of her JBT career.

   Big thanks to everyone at Kearny Mesa for hosting our Tour once again.  $1,925 was awarded to the 75 player field.  Want in on the fun?  Come on out to the next JBT event, it's as simple as that!