AMF Chandler Lanes - 4/3/2022

Our event this weekend was at AMF Chandler Lanes and we would have another great turnout to kick off the 2022 Spring Quarterly Circuit!  We would have 141 total entries (96 qualifying and 45 parlays), 36 prize winners, 1 in 3.91 cash ratio which would pay out over $9,500.00 in main and side event prize funds!  The players bowled on the very difficult Kegel 40ft Red Square oil pattern. This is Kegel’s version of the original U.S. Open pattern or the more commonly known PBA Bear oil pattern.  It is a very flat oil pattern that leaves practically no room for error and puts a premium on shot making and spare shooting. Since it’s not an extremely long or short oil pattern, players could play in many different places on the lane.  The key for the day was leaving makeable spares and picking them up.  The cut scores would hover around even so you would only need to bowl within few pins of your average to make the cut.

As always, we would like to welcome our newest members to the SFT AHT family.  Doug Martin, Todd Freeman, Cameron Downing, Scott Agnew, Aidan Skaugrud, Jason Gemmer, Jonathan Craig, Lucas Wyant, Joshua Hu and Jayson Deiner participated in his first ever SFT AHT this Sunday.  Hope you all had a good time and we’ll see you at a future events.  Congrats to Jason Gemmer who was able to make it to the quarterfinals in his first time out.  Also, congrats to our two Parlay Power Players in Joshua Molloy, Kevin Convirs and Mary Sturm who all made it to the quarterfinals on their $25.00 economy parlay entry.  Both bowlers even had a chance at the first-place prize, but more on that in a bit.  Congrats to Joshua Molloy, Felipe Espriu, Xavier Altarmirano, Sandie Davis, Roy Gross and Jason Gemmer who all made either first quarterfinals or their first quarterfinals in quite a while.  Also, congrats to Nicholas Tejada for winning Momma’s Mystery Pot, with a 191 game, for $500.00!  Your winner of the free plastic ball raffle, with an option to upgrade to any Track High Performance ball for $85.00, was Ken W. Davis.

Since this event was only 2 squads, there was no re-oil before the quarterfinals.  This resulted in some very low scores with the standings being very, very tight as bowlers needed to bowl at least one good game to make the cut.  We would have 27 quarterfinalists, with 9 bowlers in each Division, and with our 1 in 3 cut ratio from the quarterfinals to the semi-final round we would cut to the Top 3 in each Division.  The A Division #1 seed would be Xavier Altamirano (+55) and he would face off with Carter O’Neal (+44) and parlay power player Joshua Molloy (+38).  In the B Division would see Thomas “Buddy” Darnell (+42) emerge as the #1 seed and he would take on Ron McDonald (+38) and our other parlay power player Mary Sturm (+19).  The C Division would have #1 seed Isaac Chavira (+46) going against Kevin Dollar (+13) and our 2021 SFT Senior Player of the Year Robert Smith, Jr. (-1).

The A Division semi-final would see Josh Molloy absolutely catch fire as he would throw a huge 279 scratch game to secure his spot in the Finals.  Xavier Altamirano would come in second with a nice 225 game and Carter O’Neal would finish third in the Division with a 170 game.  The B Division semi-finals would see another blow out as Buddy Darnell would put another huge score of 284 with handicap to win the match by 100 pins.  Ron McDonald would come in second place with a score of 184 and parlay power player Mary Sturm would finish up in third with a score of 168.

While those two contests were close, it would be the C Division semi-finals that would be a real nail-biter.  This match would go back and forth with all three bowlers staying within a few pins of each other.  It would come down to the tenth frame as Kevin Dollar would open in his tenth frame to finish at 175.  Next up would-be Isaac Chavira and he would need get good count to put pressure on Robert to do the same.  Isaac’s first ball would go a bit too far out and hit the pocket late to leave a 2-pin.  His spare attempt would go a wide right and not make it back to open and finish at 203.  Robert would just need to get a mark to win the match.  Robert’s first ball in the tenth would also leave the 2-pin but Robert would go on to pick up the spare and strike on his fill ball to win the match with a score of 217.

Going into our Final match we would see Joshua Molloy looking at winning his first AHT SFT title and $1,300.00 first place prize.  Josh was making his second Finals appearance as he had made it all the way to the Finals off his $30.00 Economy Parlay entry and was looking to cash in big with a win today.  Thomas “Buddy” Darnell was looking to win his second AHT SFT title and had been on a roll for most of the day.  Standing in their way was our current 2021 SFT Senior Player of the Year, Robert Smith Jr., who was looking at making a jump up in the overall points race and the lead in the Senior Player of the Year points race.  Robert was making his second Finals appearance this season as he had made the Finals last month at AMF Mesa and was looking for his first win of the season.

The Finals would start off with a huge strike from Joshua Molloy while Buddy and Robert would both open with splits which they weren’t able to convert.  Josh would leave a ten pin in the second which he would convert while Buddy would strike, and Robert would convert the 4-5 for a spare.  Josh would open in the third frame missing a 7-pin to give Robert and Buddy an opening to take the lead in the match.  Buddy would split in the third frame leaving the 5-10 which he would not convert while Robert would take full advantage by striking to take a small lead.  Going into the fourth frame we would see Josh get back on track with a strike while Buddy would get an eight-spare.  Robert would miss outside and leave the 1-2-4 which he would convert.

Midway through the match and Robert would strike in the fifth to give him a slight lead.  Josh would double in the fifth frame while Buddy would continue to struggle with the pair missing the 4-7 spare attempt.  In the sixth frame we would see Robert open as he would miss a six-pin while Buddy looked to get back on track with a nine-spare.  Joshua would leave a 4-pin on a light mixer where the 7 and 10 pin fell late but would convert the spare to keep himself in the match.  Robert would open again in the seventh as he as unable to convert the 6-10.  Buddy and Joshua would both get Brooklyn strikes in the seventh as the pair seemed to be transitioning on both lanes.  It seemed like the ball would hook earlier and earlier as the match went on.  Buddy would open in the eighth as he would chop the 3-pin off the 3-6-10 and Robert would make a move right but open in the as he would miss another spare attempt.

Going into the ninth and tenth frames Robert and Joshua were neck and neck with each other.  Joshua would continue to strike getting a light mixer in the ninth to put pressure on Robert to strike.  Buddy would spare in the eighth and Robert would pick up a 2-pin spare to try and stay in the match.  The tenth frame would see Joshua open in as he would miss the 7-pin to finish at 216 to win his 1st AHT SFT title and $1,300.00.  Robert would finish up with a score of 200 for second place for $800.00 and Buddy would come in third with a score of 172 for $500.00!!!

Thank you to everyone that came out this weekend for another amazing turnout to kick off the 2022 Spring Quarterly Circuit!  Thank you to Tawna McDonald and Skye Lennen for keeping us on time for most of the day.  We’ll see you all back in a few weeks at AMF Tempe Village on April 24th!

FINALS - Joshua Molloy vs. Thomas "Buddy" Darnell vs. Robert Smith, Jr.