Vitelli’s and Zombro’s are Victorious at Season’s First Adult Junior

The PJBT continued his 18th Season with our first Adult-Junior Tournament of the Year.  Adult-Junior events have always been a popular venue for PJBT events in the past….and this year’s first did not disappoint.  We saw 55 teams or 110 bowlers compete in this event.  We had 30 teams (60 bowlers) in Scratch and 25 teams (50 Bowlers) in Handicap.

The format was 5 games of qualifying.  After 5 games, the top 40% of teams in each division advanced to Round 2.  Round 2 of the event was 3 additional games of qualifying.  After 8 Games, the top 4 teams in each division would advance to the finals.  Finals were 1 game single elimination matches….1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3.  Winners then advanced to bowl each other in the title match.  Event was conducted on a house pattern.  This event almost set a record for honor scores bowled.  See below for that recap.

In Scratch, the streak of non-PA winners continued as Francis & Tyler Vitelli, of New Jersey, captured the title.  The Vitelli’s were near the top of the leaderboard all day.  They shot team games in qualifying of 493, 473, 424, 491, and 408.  In Round 2, they shot team games of 414, 479, and 464.  Their consistency all day landed them a 3rd seed spot in the finals.  They only trailed tournament leaders Jason Waltman/Brandon Runk and #2 seed Andrew Malotta/Jake Rollins.  In the finals, Vitelli’s began with a match vs Malotta/Rollins.  This match was close to the end but the Vitelli’s outlasted Malotta/Rollins 477-458.  In the other semi-final, Waltman/Runk took on #4 seed Daniel Althouse/Brittany Himmelreich.  Althouse/Himmelreich defeated Waltman/Runk 387-347.  Ironically, the #3 and #4 seeds won their matches and advanced to face each other in the title match.  The Vitelli’s got off to a hot start in the final match and never looked back.  They shot a team high of the day 500 to win the title.  Vitelli’s defeated Althouse/Himmelreich 500-406.  Francis Vitelli won a $250 scholarship and plaque while Tyler, his adult partner, won a plaque and $150 prize.

In Handicap, Toby Zombro & Darren Zombro Jr captured the Adult-Junior title.  Zombro’s also had a fairly consistent day during rounds of qualifying.  They shot team games scratch of 395, 408, 429, 389, and 413 during quafliying. Add in their 36 pins handicap per game and they were near the top of the scoreboard.  In Round 2, they shot scratch games of 413, 350, and 360 to also earn the #3 seed in the finals.  They only trailed tournament leaders Alex & William Cron.  The #2 seed was Dylan Walko/Mike Callacki.  In the first match of the finals…..Walko/Callacki took on the Zombro’s.  This match was close to the end but the Zombro’s outlasted Walko/Callacki 372-345.  In the other final match, #1 Cron’s took on #4 seed Kalli Bzdil/BJ Myers.  Cron’s won this matchup 405-371.  This set up a title match between #1 and #3…..Cron’s and Zombro’s.  In the final, Zombro’s shot 390 and won while Cron’s shot 334.  Toby Zombro won a $250 scholarship and award while Darren Zombro Jr won $150 prize and plaque.

Ironically both #3 seeds entering the finals captured the title on this day.

This day also saw some amazing performances on the lanes.  For the youth, Chloe Skurzynski shot a perfect 300 game!  However, she was not in the 300 pot so the pot of $84 carries over to next week.  For the adults, Brandon Runk shot 300 early in qualifying and had an 803 series for his first 3 games of qualifying.  We also saw Josh Sattazahn & Jake Rollins roll perfect 300 games during qualifying.  Darren Zombro Jr, our adult champion, had an 834 series during his first 3 games of qualifying.  Marty Berke had an 11-in-a-row 299 Game and Brandon Hinderer shot an 11-in-a-row 290 Game.  Congrats to all our honor score winners on this day!