Ciufo/Rynes & Fink/Piggott Capture Doubles Titles in Sold Out Event at Trindle

The PJBT continued its 17th season with our SOLD OUT 21 & Under Doubles Event at Trindle Bowl in Mechanisburg, PA.  This was a unique event…..unlike most of our events, this event had 2 interesting things happen before it.  1)  We had a cancelled event the week before for the first time in 11 years….due to a major snowstorm.  That caused our bowlers to come out strong for this event.  2) The bowling center announced last fall that they were removing 6 lanes from their 40 lane bowling center to install something new.  They originally didn’t know what it would be but decided on a simulated golf facility.  It was an area where golfers could practice and simulate playing a real round of golf with woods, irons, and putters.  Quite the most unique bowling center now we go to in Pennsylvania.  Being the center only had 34 lanes, we could only take a max of 68 teams.  In past years, we got more than 68 teams for this event.

By the day before our event, I had announced it was our first SOLD OUT PJBT in many years.  I can’t recall the last event where we had to turn people away because we were sold out….but it happen on this day.  This year’s 21 & Under Doubles Event at Trindle saw 28 Scratch Teams and 40 Handicap Teams take to the 34 lanes available for competition.

In Scratch, Joey Ciufo & Ben Rynes, of Maryland, captured the Doubles Title.  It was a race for the lead all day in Scratch.  Most of the day was led by the team of Hunter Machin & Thomas Gunter.  However, Ciufo & Rynes hung in around the top of the leaderboard all day.  They shot scratch games of 413, 442, 434, 468, and 443 in qualifying.  Round 2 of the event was 3 additional games of qualifying with scores carrying forward.  Ciufo/Rynes shot games of 477, 461, and 460 to put them at 3598 for 8 games or +398.  The final 3 games propelled them into the lead of the event entering the baker format stepladder final.  In the title match, 2nd seed team Machin/Gunter would take on Ciufo/Rynes for the title.  The match was close throughout but the difference was Ciufo/Rynes were able to string a 4-bagger together in the middle of the game and get a lead while Machin/Gunter stringing strikes.  However, the match came down to the 10th frame.  In the end, Ciufo/Rynes defeated Machin/Gunter 207-187 in the title match.  Ciufo & Rynes each took home an individual top prize scholarship of $200 and our awards from Crown Trophy.

In Handicap, one of our youngest doubles pairs, ages 6 & 9, Owen Fink & Garrett Piggott captured the doubles title.  Fink & Piggott together averaged 200 and was receiving 180 pins handicap a game.  They shot team games of 218, 237, 257, 245, and 312.  In Round 2, they continued to bowl over their average by shooting games of 238, 243, and 239.  After 8 Games, they stood at 3429 or +229 and was in the lead of the tournament by just 20 pins over 2nd seed David & Darrin Swavely.  In the title match, Fink/Piggott took on #3 seed Shannon Strickland & Brianna Honish.  Strickland & Honish advanced to the final match after winning their first 2 matches in the stepladder.  In the quarterfinal, they defeated #4 Kyle Bonilla/Emily Skurzynski 185-154.  In the semi-final, they defeated #2 Swavely/Swavely Jr 164-158.  In the title match, it was shot for shot.  Each team had a lead in the match but some late open frames from Strickland/Honish opened the door for Fink & Piggott.  Fink/Piggott defeated Strickland/Honish 159-133 in the title match.  Fink/Piggott each took home a $200 scholarship and our 1st place awards from Crown Trophy.

No honor scores were bowled on this day so our 300 Pot carries over to next week.