ORANGE’S Jason Belmonte has stepped up when it counted, helping his Wheaties L.A. X team to the PBA League Elias Cup semi-finals.

L.A. X took on the Motown Muscle in the quarter-finals at Bayside Bowl in Portland, Maine yesterday morning (AEST), with the match going to a one-ball sudden-death roll-off.

Belmonte was joined by his L.A. X teammates Stuart Williams, Andres Gomez, Martin Larsen and Patrick Allen in the Baker team competition, where each team member takes a turn to bowl a frame.

L.A. X was leading the first game by 11 pins after eight frames before Motown anchor Ronnie Russell spared the 10th, forcing Belmonte to strike or spare for the win.

However, Belmonte left the 2-4-8 pins standing and then missed the spare for Motown to win the first game 182-179.

L.A. X lifted in the second game with Andres Gomez and Martin Larsen bowling back-to-back strikes.

Belmonte bowled three strikes in the 10th to push his team to a 228-192 win and force the match into the one-ball sudden-death roll-off.

Belmonte handled the pressure by rolling a strike, while Motown’s Ronnie Russell left the 10 pin standing, which gave L.A. X the win.

The Orange bowler said he knew he had to perform after a sub-par effort in the 10th frame in the first game.

“In the 10th frame of the first game, my left hand slipped off the ball in my backswing,” Belmonte explained.

“I should have stopped, but I figured we had a second game and if it got down to one shot, I’d redeem myself. When you perform as badly as I did the first time, you’d better make sure when you get a chance to make up for it, you throw the best shot of your life.”

The PBA League semi-finals will be held at 4am on Monday, April 13 (AEST), using the Baker team format.

The winners will progress to the finals the following week where the title will be decided using singles, doubles, trios and teams formats.