Kerstetter & Chesko Become First Title Winners of 2015

The PJBT continued it’s 16th season of events with our first event of 2015.  The PJBT rolled into the New Hiester Lanes in Reading, PA, for our 22nd event of the season.  73 bowlers took on the house pattern at the lanes…we had 36 bowlers in Scratch and 37 bowlers in Handicap.

In Scratch, Jacob Kerstetter of Allentown, PA, captures his 1st singles PJBT title.  Kerstetter, who has bowled on our tour for many years….had a title in a Doubles event….but never won a singles event.  He started off 2015 with his 1st singles title.  Kerstetter stood in 10th place after 5 games of qualifying with a score of 1081 or +81.  He trailed tournament leader Zachary Dragovits by 103 pins entering match play.  In match play, Kerstetter won his matches and bowled well enough to climb up to the top of the leaderboard.  Kerstetter was seeded in 2nd place entering the 5 bowler stepladder final.  Kerstetter only trailed tournament leader Alden Everett.  In the semi-final match, Kerstetter took on 5th seed Austin Chubb.  Kerstetter outlasted Chubb 241-201 and advanced to face Everett in the title match.  In the final, Kerstetter got off to a solid start while Everett never got comfortable with the title pair.  Everett had 2 opens in the first 5 frames and Kerstetter never looked back.  Kerstetter defeated Everett in the title match 237-162 to capture his 1st PJBT Singles title and the $200 top scholarship prize.

In Handicap, Mackenzie Chesko captured her 1st title.  Mackenzie was seeded in 4th place after qualifying with a 5 game total of 1125 or +125.  In match play, Chesko won 2 of 3 matches and climbed up the leaderboard to 2nd place entering the final matches.  Chesko only trailed tournament leader Ty Shoultes.  Ty was a newcomer to PJBT but he dominated the day….leading the event in Handicap from start to finish….that was until the finals.   However, before we recall the final match, Chesko got to the final match by defeating Jennifer Williams in the semi-final match.  It was an interesting final for Handicap on this day….as Ty was the only male bowler in the finals.  We had 4 females and 1 male.  Chesko defeated Williams in the semi-final 253-220.  In the title match, it was Ty Shoultes vs Mackenzie Chesko.  Chesko outlasted Shoultes on this day and won the final match 178-165.  Chesko took home the title and the $200 top scholarship prize.

No honor scores were shot on this day….so that means that the 300 record was a year-long high of $188 entering next weeks’ event.