Blair & Smith Capture Victory at Colony Park Lanes North

The PJBT continued its 19th season with a return trip to Colony Park Lanes North for a rare Saturday Afternoon event.  On this day, 37 bowlers took to the lanes in a regular season singles event format.  We had 17 in Scratch and 20 in Handicap.

Gene Blair captured his 5th career PJBT title and 4th title of the season.  Blair began the day slow….with games of 179, and 178.  Game 3 he found his swagger!  He shot 290, and followed it up with 211 and 235.  After 5 games, Blair stood at +93 and was in 4th place.  10th place qualifying cut was -85.  Blair turned it on in match play.  He went 3-0 with games of 236, 239, and 192.  After 8 games, Blair was in 2nd place behind tournament leader Jordan Schell.  Blair was at +250 and only behind leader Schell by 3 pins entering the stepladder finals.  Blair entered the stepladder finals in Game 3 against Daniel Althouse.  In a close contested match….Blair squeaked out a victory over Althouse 214-210.  This advanced Blair to the title match vs Jordan Schell.  The title match came down to the final frame.  In the end, Gene Blair defeated Jordan Schell 215-203 to take home the victory.  Blair’s victory earned him $200 scholarship and plaque for his win.

In Handicap, Riley Smith captured his 1st ever career PJBT title.  Smith entered the event with a 129 entering average and 63 pins handicap per game.  Smith shot scratch qualifying games of 158, 140, 112, 170, and 149.  After 5 games, Smith stood at +44 and was in 3rd place.  The first cut for 10th place in qualifying was -15.  Smith also went 3-0 in match play to move up the leaderboard.  He shot games of 181, 157, and 155.  These wins boosted Smith into the tournament lead entering the finals.  In the title match, Smith took on Ayoana Bailey.  Bailey had qualified 4th and won every stepladder match leading up the showdown with Riley Smith.  The match came down to the final frame.  In the end, Riley Smith stopped the Bailey winning streak….by beating her in the title match 154-135.  Riley Smith earned a $200 scholarship and plaque for his win.

Congrats also go out to Daniel Althouse & Gene Blair.  Each bowler had an 11-in-a-row 290 Game during qualifying.  Althouse rolled his to start the Day Game 1.  Blair had his in Game 3.  Tony Lutz was also recognized on this day for converting the hardest spare in bowling!  The 7-10 Split!  Way to go to all our honor scores for today.

Next week:  PJBT rolls into ABC North Lanes for a regular season singles event on Sunday, May 13 (Mother’s Day) at 10:30am.