“War Crest Valley” & “North Ridge” Win 1st Ever All Baker PJBT Team Tournament at ABC West Lanes

The PJBT continued its 19th season with a new event that was a big hit!  For the first time ever, the PJBT conducted a 5-Person Team Tournament similar to a college event….with all BAKER games.  Baker games are where bowlers from each team bowl 2 frames a game.  Bowler 1 bowls frames 1 and 6….bowler 2 frames 2 and 7 and so forth.  The format was 16 baker games for each team and the top 6 teams advanced to Round 2.  Round 2 was head to head matches.  1 vs 6, 2 vs 5, and 3 vs 4.  Matches were max 3 games….first team to win 2 games advanced.  The field went from 6 teams to 3 and the 3 teams advanced to our stepladder matches.  3 vs 2 and winner bowls 1 based on seeding after qualifying.

In Scratch, the team of War Crest Valley captured the title.   A team made up of Warcrest Valley High School Bowlers….Isaac Erickson, Tony Lutz, Ben White, Kolby Bennett, and Ryan Graham.  War Crest Valley shot 3224 for 16 baker games…averaging just over 200 and leading the field of 14 Scratch Teams.  In the Round of 6, War Crest Valley took on #6 seed Team Storm.  Their match went 3 games.  War Crest Valley lost the first game 183-192….but answered back with wins in Game 2 and 3 to win.  They won 231-212 in Game 2 and 194-167 in the deciding match.  This set them as the #1 seed entering the stepladder final.  In the title match, War Crest Valley took on #3 seed #Team5Pin.  #Team5Pin was made up of Morgan Gitlitz, Alex Horton, Aidan D’Souza, Antonio Reyes, and Joey Ocello.  Title match only went 2 games.  War Crest Valley shot 267 Game 1 to score a win and won Game 2 with a 227 game.  Their win earned them a $1000 scholarship ($200 per bowler) and plaques for their win.

In Handicap, North Ridge captured the title.  North Ridge was made up of James Carnal, Lucas Francis, Martin Grace, Drew Massack, and Zach Valentine.  North Ridge battled their way to victory.  They led the handicap division for most of the day….but struggled at the end of qualifying to maintain the top spot.  After 16 games of qualifying, they stood at 2883 and -317.  They were seeded 5th out of 6 teams entering the Round of 6.  Their first head-to-head match was vs #2 seed team Fort Knight Players.  North Ridge went 2-0 — winning their games 164-163 and 194-172.  North Ridge was the #3 seed of 3 entering stepladder finals.  In their semi-final match, North Ridge took down #2 seed No Names also 2-0.  They won their games 210-156 and 169-166.  This advanced them to the title match vs tournament leaders “The Fine Nutcases.”  Their title match went to the max 3 games.  North Ridge wins game 1 221-192….and then loses Game 2 in a heartbreaker 173-174.  The final game decided it and it went to North Ridge 221-204.  Each bowler on North Ridge won a $200 scholarship ($1000 total) and plaque for their win.

We had not sidepots or 300 Pot on this day.  Thanks to all 135 bowlers (27 teams) that came out!  In all, we gave away $3500 in scholarships.

Next week:  PJBT travels for a Saturday event to Colony Park Lanes North for a regular season PJBT at 2:30pm Sat May 5th.