Blair & Baker Earn Top Prizes at Palmyra

Published on: September 9, 2017 | Categories: Headliners, Winners Gallery

The PJBT held its 2nd Event of the 2017-2018 Season with a trip to Palmyra Bowling Center in Palmyra, PA.   This event was our first recreational pattern event (modified house) of the season.  Competitors took on the xxxx pattern.  47 Bowlers competed in this event with 29 in Scratch and 18 in Handicap.  Format was our standard tournament format of 5 games qualifying, top 40% bowled 3 games of match play with scores carrying forward.  After 8 games, the top 5 bowlers did a stepladder final.

Gene Blair of Maryland captured the Scratch Title.  Blair was near the top of the leaderboard all day.  He shot games of 246, 258, 209, 230 and 191 during qualifying.  He stood at +134 and was seeded 2nd in the field of 29.  The first 12th place cut was -18.   Blair went 2-1 in match play.  He started slow with a 155 (L) game but made up for it with a 210 (W) and a 246 (W) to make the finals as the 3rd seed of five finalists.  In the livestream finals, Blair began with a victory over #5 seed Jason Waltman in dominating fashion 279-168.  Blair then took on#2 seed Daniel Althouse.  This match came down the final shot.  In the end, Blair squeeked out the victory 229-225.  Onto the title match vs #1 seed Ryan Taylor of NJ.  The title match was another close match but late Blair struck to lock up the victory 229-210.  Blair took home the $200 top scholarship prize and plaque for his victory.

MariBeth Baker carried over her hot performances at the end of last season into her first victory of 2017-2018.  Baker didn’t come out of the gate as fast as some.  She entered the event with 157 average and 38 pins a game.  She shot scratch games of 135, 184, 147, 167, and 179.  With her handicap, she stood at +2 for 5 games and was seeded 8th out of 10 semi-finalists.  10th place cut was -26 for 5 games.  Match Play was where Baker turned it on!  She went 3-0 with games of 188, 190, and 182.  Her wins propelled her into the tournament lead by just 3 pins entering the stepladder finals.  In the title match, Baker took on #2 seed Brentin Sherman.  Sherman was competing in his 1st ever PJBT and looked impressive entering the final match.  This match wasn’t decided until late….but Baker outlasted Sherman 158-144 to take home the title.  Baker won a $200 scholarship and plaque for her victory.

Congrats on this day to Kolby Bennett for rolling our 1st Perfect 300 Game of the season and taking home a $49 bonus scholarship.

Next week:  PJBT Labor Day 8-Game Marathon will be held at Jordan Lanes in Allentown, PA….starting at 10:30am.

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