D’Souza/Reyes & Stoner/Gordon Capture Doubles Titles in High Scoring Event at Trindle Bowl

The PJBT continued its 18th Season with our Annual Trip to Trindle Bowl in Mechanisburg, PA, for our 21 & Under Doubles Event.  This doubles event was our 2nd one of these events for the year.  Trindle Bowl is usually close to a sellout event every year, especially since the center removed 5 lanes of their 40 for the golf simulator they installed.  They now have 35 sanctioned lanes but we can only use 34 for our tournament.  The event this year did not sell out but came very close.  Of the 68 teams max we could take….we had 62 teams or 124 bowlers competing on this day.  Of the 124 bowlers competing, we had 64 bowlers (32 teams) in scratch and 60 bowlers (30 teams) in Handicap. Format was 5 games, top 40% of teams bowl an additional 3 games, and then the top 5 teams advance to a baker style stepladder final.  Lane condition was house.

This was a good day to have the first name AIDAN.  2 of our 4 champions had the name AIDAN, except one spells it Aidan and the other Aiden.

In Scratch, Aiden D’Souza & Antonio Reyes captured their 2nd career PJBT titles.  They bowled excellent all day.  They started off qualifying with team games of 492, 448, 470, 505, and 471.  This put them at the top of the leaderboard entering Round 2.  Of the 32 teams bowling, the top 12 advanced to Round 2 with the cut being around +100.  In Round 2, D’Souza/Reyes shot games of 486, 401, and 480 to maintain their lead and have a 120 pin lead on the field entering the finals.  They stood at +553 after 8 games of qualifying.  D’Souza/Reyes took on Jesse Brown & Ryan Carlisi for the title.  Brown/Carlisi was the #2 seed team entering the finals.  So it was #1 vs #2.  In the title match, D’Souza/Reyes got off to a hot start on the baker game and never looked back.  D’Souza/Reyes defeated Brown/Carlisi 244-209 to take home the title.  D’Souza/Reyes won a $400 scholarship ($200 each bowler) and a plaque for their doubles title.

In Handicap, another Aiden, Aiden Stoner & his partner Severo Gordon, captured their 1st PJBT titles.  Their road to victory was not half as easy as D’Souza/Reyes.  Stoner/Gordon had an entering team average of 260 and was receiving 126 pins handicap per game.  In qualifying, they shot scratch games of 277, 30, 231, 300, and 320.  They qualified for the top 12 but were not in the lead.  12th place 1st cut was around +25.  In Round 2, they shot games of 234, 290, and 326 to boost themselves up the leaderboard.  They stood in 4th place entering the 5 team stepladder final.  This is where they got out and climbed the long mountain!  To win, they needed to walk the ladder and win all 4 stepladder matches…..which is what they did!  They won Game 1 of the finals vs #5 seed Jacob Gilbert/Corey Rinda by the score 137-128.  In Match 2, Stoner/Gordon defeated #3 Cameron Smee/Landen Freeman 171-159.  In the semi-final, Stoner/Gordon took down #2 seed David Triggs/Jennifer Williams 180-168.  This advanced Stoner/Gordon into the title match vs tournament leaders Brandon Stark/Tevon Kerr.  Once again, Stoner/Gordon started off with a couple of early marks and filled frames.  In the end, they completed the victory by winning over Stark/Kerr 172-147.  Aiden Stoner & Severo Gordon each received a $200 scholarship for their victory and plaque for their doubles title.

On this day, we did have a couple of honor scores.  We had a perfect 300 Game Rolled in Qualifying by Bryce Miller.  Congrats to Bryce….BUT he was NOT in the 300 Pot…..so the money carries to next week.  In addition, Dylan Zimmerman rolled an 11-in-a-row 290 Game.

Next Sunday:  MAJOR #7 on the schedule….as the PJBT rolls into 222 Dutch Lanes for our yearly SUPER BOWL Major Event.  Extra payouts/scholarships/top girls on this day.  Event is Sunday, February 5th.  Event will be over in time to watch Super Bowl 51 from Houston between Atlanta Falcons and New England Patriots.  We hope to see everyone there!