CaliforniaBowlingNews.com
by David Yamauchi
LAKEWOOD – The JAT headed to Cal Bowl for our 12th of 15 events this season.
Lane conditions on the high end were tight to start but as the bowlers broke down the pattern scoring started to rise.
Solomon Salama wowed the crowd with a remarkable run in the best-of-three matches putting up games of 257-267-278-258-255 for a 802 series, 1060 4-game set and a 5-game run of 1315- a 263 average as he struck to his 11th title.
In the 130-164 Preps Division, it was Emily Schrider finishing strong with a 206 game to post a 543 series for the win and $75 scholarship. Alex Alvarez was steady for 2nd at 495, Luke Mercado’s 482 was good for 3rd place, Alexis Lee finished 4th with a 451 series and Henry Lee was the final scholarship recipient at 448. Brandon Criss came out strong with a 206 game but missed the scholarships by ju
st one stick.
Scoring highlights also included Luke Mercado 193, Jonathan Fung 185, Alex Alvarez 183, Akayla Orosco 179 and Henry Lee 179.
In the Farm Club, after 5 games of qualifying the cut was -50 to advance to Match-Play. Qualifying scoring highlights included Sam Grayson 269, Cameron Criss 255, Daniel Hong 250, Trenton Gibbs 245 and Ben Dinenberg 240. In the Top-12 Match Play, Garrett Lee secured the top-spot in the rolloffs using his 150 bonus pins from his 5-0 record to get to +217. Daniel Hong was 2nd at +161 and Ben Dinenberg used a huge 276 in position round to get to +107 and leapfrog into the third and final rolloff spot. Match-play scoring included Garrett Lee 243-235, Ben Dinenberg 245 and Daniel Hong 234
. In the stepladder, the semifinal match was a one-sided affair as Ben Dinenberg advanced over Daniel Hong 218-128.
Top-seeded Garrett Lee matched up with Dinenberg for a shot at the title. The match came down to the 10th frame as Dinenberg went strike-spare to force Lee to strike on his first ball to stay in the match. Lee’s shot went light and the 8-count gave the title to Dinenberg. Congratulations Ben on your first title!
In the Open Division, scoring was strong at +28 was the cut for the top-8 advancers. Ryan Lee and Eric Phillips led the pack tied at +101 wit
h some solid bowling. Louis Luna was low-to-advance at +28. Qualifying scoring highlights included Ryan Lee 276-237, Trevyr Geronimo 267, Eric Phillips 244, Kevin Banaag 244, Solomon Salama 241-237, Nick Caner 238, Marquan Rivers 236, Louis Luna 236, Tim Hill 235, Costa Gastouniotis 235, and Kyle Reed 235. In the bracket, Ryan Lee and Kyle Reed both needed three games to advance while
Marquan Rivers and Solomon Salama swept into the semi-final round with Kevin Banaag on the short-end of a 267-255 elimination game.
In the semis, Kyle Reed and Marquan Rivers tied the first game with Reed winning the 9th and 10th frame rolloff, then Reed taking the second game by one stick to advance to the finals. On the other side of the bracket, Ryan Lee ran into a truck as Solomon Salama took him out 278-234 and 258-217 to advance to the championship match. In the final, it was all Salama as he took advantage of Reed’s tough carry game one 255-172. Then, after a lengthy lane machine delay and a switch of pairs, Salama continued on to a 213-184 win and the title. Congratulations Solomon on an incredible scoring run in the bracket and your 11th title!
The JAT takes the lanes May 20th at Forest Lanes for our final event in the PBA Challenge. Just two events left this season- for all the details join our Facebook group at facebook.com/groups/bowljat or look for our ad in thisnewspaper each week!