This weekend’s event was at AMF Chandler Lanes. The event drew 104 total entries (68 qualifying and 36 economy parlay), had 29 cashers, a 1 in 3.6 cash ratio and paid out over $5,100.00 in main and side event prize funds. The players bowled on a 44ft London oil pattern that played a lot tighter on the fresh, but once the pattern broke down, scoring sky rocketed. We haven’t bowled on this pattern in quite a while, but the key was to get your ball into a roll and play a little straighter along the track. Those that could do that were able to take advantage of the pattern. We saw the average cut scores for the weekend were higher with the average cut being around +60 to qualify. The winner of the free plastic bowling ball, with an option to upgrade to any high performance Track ball for $85.00, was Stefan Hilbig.
It’s still amazing to see new bowlers come out and bowl our events. We also want to welcome Reggie Elliott, Michael Martinez, Lonnie Buettner, Jacob Buettner, Travis Brown, Taylor Massey, Preston Massey, Tremaine Coley, Bruce Ferguson, Cathy Gardner and Stefan Helbig to the SFT AHT Family!!! Reggie and Travis even made it to the quarterfinals on their first try! We hope you all enjoyed yourself, and we hope to see you again soon! We had a few parlay power players this weekend in Daniel Austin, Steve Convirs, Dishawn Byrd, Gary Hamm and Edward Lee. These bowlers were able to turn their $25 investment into a spot in the quarterfinals and a chance at the $1,000.00 first place prize.
The quarterfinals were bowled on the fresh oil pattern and the cut scores were still high with bowlers needing to shoot around +80 to advance to the semi-finals. In the A Division the #1 seed would be Sean Ashley, went +209 in the quarterfinals, and he would take on veteran Eric Flick. The B Division #1 seed would be newcomer Travis Brown, at +211, and he would have to bowl against Daniel Austin. The C Division #1 seed was Justin Elizalde and he would face off against newcomer Nicklas Jimenez. The advantage of each #1 seed player is that they are able to pick the pair of lanes that they want their match to take place. Also another advantage is that they get to choose the order of which player would start first.
The A Division semi-final match was a great match with Sean and Eric both striking to take it down to the tenth frame. Sean was able to stay clean and finish at 218. Eric, who had struck in the ninth, needed to double in the tenth frame to get past Sean. Eric’s ball looked to be good off his hand and crushed the pocket unfortunately leaving the 7-10 split and leaving Eric short at 198. The B Division semi-final match was also back and forth but Travis was able to get around Daniel Austin to make it to his first title match. The C Division was fairly close with the match coming down to the final frames. Justin Elizalde was trying to stay ahead of Nick Jimenez and was able to double and eight, to put some pressure on the newcomer. Nick up and threw his first ball a little fast, but was able to trip out the four pin for a strike and calmly threw a second strike for the win, 212 to 208.
The final match would see Sean Ashley looking for his 2nd SFT AHT title and both Travis and Nick looking for their first title. All three bowlers would start off trying to get lined up as quickly as possible with Nick doubling to jump out to a small lead, but a missed spare in the fourth frame would even it up. Sean would strike in five of his first six frames to make up the handicap difference. Travis had a missed 7 pin in the fourth, but was able to put together a three bagger in the fifth, sixth and seventh frames to keep himself in the match. It would all come down to final frame. Nick had opened in the ninth to give Sean and Travis a shot at passing him. Nick would finish up the tenth with score of 211. Sean would be first up and was able to fill the tenth and finish at 244. Travis would need a strike on the first ball in the tenth to force a tie. Travis’s shot looked very good off his hand, but came up light leaving a four pin and a score of 233, giving Sean his 2nd SFT AHT title and $1,000.00!!! Congrats to Travis Brown on 2nd Place and also to Nicklas Jimenez on 3rd Place!
Thanks to everyone for coming out this weekend to support the event. We look forward to seeing you all next Sunday at Lakeview Lanes! Hope you all have a great week!
