Martell & Brunner Win at North – Punch Ticket to End of Year Championship

Published on: May 20, 2017 | Categories: Headliners, Winners Gallery

The PJBT continued to round down our 18th Season with a trip to ABC North Lanes in Harrisburg, PA.  This event was our 2nd to the last regular season event.  On this day, we saw 66 athletes take to the lanes in a regular season singles tournament.  We had 40 in Scratch and 26 in Handicap.  This event was competed on a house pattern.

In Scratch, Michael Martell, home from college, captured the title.  This title was so important for both our winners on this day….because both bowlers did not have enough participation points during the season to compete in our invitational.  They only had one way to get in and that was to win a title!!  Martell did that on this day.  Martell was not the leader all day though.  He had to work for his victory.  He started off qualifying with games of 256, 209, 219, 266, and 207 for 1157 or +157.  He stood in 6th place of 16 bowlers advancing to match play.  16th place cut was +72.  He trailed tournament leader Dylan Zimmerman by over 80 pins.  In Match Play, Martell made his move.  Martell went undefeated in Match Play with games of 227, 267, and 237.  These wins, combined with bonus pins for victory, boosted Martell into the lead of the event by just 27 pins over 2nd seed Darren Zombro III.  In the stepladder final match, Martell took on Zombro for the title.  Martell outlasted Zombro for the title 213-172.  Martell took home the $200 top scholarship prize and plaque for his victory.

In Handicap, Cody Brunner, in just his 2nd event of the PJBT season, got his 1st ever PJBT title and ticket into the invitational.  Brunner entered the event with a 183 entering average and 15 pins handicap per game.  He shot scratch games of 179, 204, 165, 192, and 211 during qualifying.  He stood at +26 and was seeded 3rd out of 10 advancing to match play.  10th place cut was -44.  In Match Play, Brunner had an up-and-down block.  He only went 1-2 in matches BUT his 1 win was big!  He lost shooting 167, won shooting a 267 scratch game, and then lost with 183.  Despite only winning 1 match, his big 2nd game of match play allowed him to maintain his 3rd seed position entering the finals.  For Brunner to win, he had to win 3 stepladder matches.  His first match was against #4 seed Landen Freeman.  Brunner got out to a quick start and never looked back….winning this match 222-175.  This advanced him to the semi-final match vs #2 seed Drew Jaquith.  This match came down to the last shot!  In the end, Brunner squeaked out a victory over Drew Jaquith 192-188.  This advanced Brunner to the title match vs tournament leader Rachel Casillas.  Brunner took the title match over Casillas 182-152 to win the title!  Brunner won a $200 top scholarship prize and plaque for his victory.

Congratulations also go out to Ben Rynes and Alex Sorge.  Both Ben and Alex shot perfect 300 games during the competition.  Ben’s 300 came during Game 4 of qualifying.  Alex Sorge bowled his perfect game during the last game of Match Play, game 8.  Both bowlers split the 300 pot of $72 between each other.  Pot will start over next week.

The final regular season PJBT event is Saturday, May 20 at 2:30pm at Colony Park Lanes North in York.  This event is a regular season singles event on a challenge pattern.  The event will be the last event to qualify for the PJBT Invitational.  The PJBT postseason of events begins on Sunday, May 27 with the Bracket Rolloff Survivor Tournament.

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