FANTASY LANES
scratch
champ Josh Blanchard
A veteran and a newcomer performed superbly in capturing JBT titles in exciting Southern California Conference action on Super Bowl Sunday at Fantasy Lanes.
A very tough pattern was laid out, challenging the scratch field, who enjoyed our exciting Mulligan format, where you get one "do-over" for every strike you rolled during game one.
Matthew Jones opened round one of the finals by exhausting all of his remaining Mulligans to get by BJ Baker, 214-178, after Baker edged fellow Arizonan Christian Jensen in a double-rolloff for the fifth and final spot. Bidwell then defeated the Mulligan-less Jones 234-170, before Ken McElvaney started with the front 8 strikes to oust Bidwell 278-235 and reach his second consecutive title match.
Top qualifier Josh Blanchard put on an absolute clinic all day long, obviously comfortable on this particular pattern. Both bowlers had 4 Mulligans left, and after a first frame spare by McElvaney, nothing but strikes was put on the scoreboard through frame 8. In the end, Ken's Mulligans were used up and he could only finish with spares for a brilliant 267. Meanwhile, Josh burnt 2 Mulligans to get the clinching ninth frame strike, then used his final one in the eleventh, getting the next two strikes for the newly-termed "Mulligan 300" and the win, the ninth title of his JBT career. He also nearly swept the brackets for a $670 windfall on the day.
The handicap division bowlers struggled as a whole on the tough conditions, with a -75 score being good enough to make the finals. Alesha Pannier made her trip from Lake Havasu count with a 165-155 win over Bethany Baker in round one of the stepladder. Kaylee Riddle then took over, defeating Pannier 173-112, and following with a 214-144 win over Troy Lien to reach the title match.
Unlike almost everyone else, top qualifier Wesley Low found the lanes to be just fine, thanks, as he cruised to the top seed, leading 7 of 8 games. The 9 year-old lefty cranker struggled on spares in the title match, however, while Riddle, rebounding from a sub-par performance at Saturday's JBT event, remained solid. In the end, Kaylee defeated Wesley 227-184, good for the first title of her JBT career.
Big thanks to Doug Schmidt and everyone at Fantasy for a terrific job hosting our event for the first time. Over $1,800 in scholarships were awarded on teh day, and nearly $4,000 on the weekend. Want in on the fun? Come on out to the next JBT event, it's as simple as that!
| Fantasy Lanes (Sun.)- final results and optional scholarship winners | ||||
| 2/4/2007 | ||||
| So Cal Conference | ||||
| Scratch Division | ||||
| rank | name | city, state | score | prize |
| 1 | Josh Blanchard | Fresno, CA | p 331 | $670 |
| 2 | Ken McElvaney | Chatsworth, CA | p 215 | $100 |
| 3 | Devin Bidwell | Simi Valley, CA | p 155 | $80 |
| 4 | Matt Jones | Canoga Park, CA | p 112 | $40 |
| 5 | BJ Baker | Tempe, AZ | p 79 | $40 |
| 6 | Christian Jensen | Anthem, AZ | p 79 | $30 |
| 7 | Kris George | Glendale, AZ | p 69 | |
| 8 | Matt Cormack | Woodland Hills, CA | p 56 | $15 |
| 9 | Foster Phandanouvong | San Diego, CA | p 22 | $23 |
| 10 | Will Jackson | Gardena, CA | p 13 | $65 |
| 11 | JR Monteith | Orange, CA | even | $15 |
| 12 | Cameron Smith | Santee, CA | m 59 | |
| 13 | Jeff Mathews | Las Vegas, NV | m 134 | $14 |
| 14 | Ricky Brown | RSM, CA | m 205 | |
| 15 | Kyle King | Phoenix, AZ | m 78 | |
| 16 | Preston Fukumizu | Los Angeles, CA | m 79 | |
| 17 | Forrest Holland | Escondido, CA | m 81 | |
| 18 | Shane Peck | Riverside, CA | m 86 | |
| 19 | Shane Lien | San Diego, CA | m 106 | |
| 20 | Lana Lycan | San Diego, CA | m 129 | |
| 21 | Nick Powanda | San Diego, CA | m 156 | |
| 22 | Chris Valenzuela | Los Angeles, CA | m 167 | |
| 23 | Brian Ballard | San Diego, CA | m 195 | |
| 24 | Chris Weyrauch | Tempe, AZ | m 196 | |
| 25 | Eric Rubin | Phoenix, AZ | m 207 | |
| Handicap Division | ||||
| rank | name | city, state | score | prize |
| 1 | Kaylee Riddle | Indio, CA | m 44 | $200 |
| 2 | Wesley Low | Palmdale, CA | p 92 | $189 |
| 3 | Troy Lien | San Diego, CA | p 34 | $60 |
| 4 | Alesha Pannier | Lake Havasu City, AZ | m 69 | $40 |
| 5 | Bethany Baker | Tempe, AZ | m 75 | $100 |
| 6 | Shayne Huntley | Mission Viejo, CA | m 84 | $49 |
| 7 | Brittany Page | Los Angeles, CA | m 41 | |
| 8 | James Hawkins | Anaheim, CA | m 106 | $21 |
| 9 | Andrew Castaneda | Bermuda Dunes, CA | m 145 | |
| 10 | Christina Fraijo | Corona, CA | m 146 | |
| 11 | Taylor King | Phoenix, AZ | m 154 | $15 |
| 12 | Brian Castelloe | Carlsbad, CA | m 171 | $60 |
| 13 | Robert Page | Los Angeles, CA | m 179 | $9 |
| 14 | Samantha Meyers | Mission Hills, CA | m 184 | $15 |
| 15 | Eddie Sayles | Los Angeles, CA | m 210 | |
| 16 | Brittany Kolatzny | San Diego, CA | m 223 | $15 |
| 17 | Martika Cabezas | Cathedral City, CA | m 134 | |
| 18 | Kyle Frederick | Chandler, AZ | m 137 | |
| 19 | Kaitlin Mayall | Chula Vista, CA | m 143 | |
| 20 | Justin Basom | San Diego, CA | m 158 | |
| 21 | Cameron Peck | Riverside, CA | m 166 | |
| 22 | Jaymes Conn | San Diego, CA | m 166 | |
| 23 | Mike May | San Diego, CA | m 175 | |
| 24 | Billy Stafford | Los Angeles, CA | m 189 | |
| 25 | Brandon Mullikin | Torrance, CA | m 190 | |
| 26 | Mimi Duong | San Diego, CA | m 199 | |
| 27 | Kyle DeCew | Riverside, CA | m 202 | |
| 28 | Shalynne Schmid | Indio, CA | m 204 | |
| 29 | Drew Stern | Northridge, CA | m 224 | $5 |
| Ball Winner: Chris Valenzuela | ||||
| Super Bowl Winner: Ricky Brown (predicted 28-17) | ||||
| TOTAL AWARDED THIS EVENT: $1,895 | ||||