Our event this weekend was at AMF McRay and wow…what a turnout. We drew 126 total entries (87 qualifying and 39 economy parlay), had 33 cashers, a 1 in 3.81 cash ratio and paid out over $6,500.00 in main and side event prize funds. The players bowled on a 35ft Boardwalk oil pattern that played a bit harder than usual on the fresh. This pattern can tend to be high scoring because it allows some miss room to the right if the bowler is able to get far enough to the right. Well, that did exist on some of the pairs, but other pairs didn’t have the same look. The scores on the fresh pattern were a bit low but scoring exploded in the later squads with most bowlers shooting close to +70 to make the cut.
We want to welcome our new bowlers that joined us for this weekend’s event! Aaron Stein, Gilbert Archibeque, Justin Phillips, Craig Newcomb, Adam Orlopp and Danny Scott joined us this weekend for their first event. Adam narrowly made the quarterfinals on his first try, getting the last insurance spot in his Division. We didn’t see any Parlay Power Players this weekend, which shows how difficult the lanes were from pair to pair. We had a few bowlers make it to their first quarterfinals or their first quarterfinals in quite a while in Adam Orlopp, Ross Lyons, John Masterson, Jon Mayer and John Verbil. We also had not one, but two Momma’s Mystery Pot winners. Chris Berryman won $500.00 with a score of 192 while Ken W. Davis would win $380.00 with a score of 165. Congrats guys! Your winner of the free plastic ball raffle, with an option to upgrade to any Track high performance ball for $85.00, was John Masterson.
The quarterfinalists bowled on the fresh Boardwalk oil pattern and scores were higher scoring with the semi-final spots being determined in game 3. It seemed that every Division Semi-finalist was able to minimize mistakes and string strikes together. In the A Division, your #1 seed was Jon Mayer (+101) and he would take on Josh Williams (+94). The B Division leader was Shawna Strause (+125) and she would face off with SFT veteran and Senior Player of the Year Ron Gonzales (+98). Meanwhile in the C Division birthday boy Ross Lyons (+95) would have to bowl against newcomer William Standefer (+39).
The A Division semi-final match would go back and forth with Jon struggling with carry down and transition on the pair. Josh Williams would string a few strikes together to defeat Jon, 202 to 164. The C Division would see Ross Lyons catch fire and shoot 250 scratch to hand William his first semi-final match loss, 298 to 193. The B Division semi-final match would be a nail biter with both competitors going back and forth throughout the match. Going into the ninth frame Shawna would have a narrow lead, but an untimely split would let Ron catch up and tie the match. In the tenth frame Ron would strike on his first shot and his second shot would go a bit high leaving him a 7-pin, which he was able to pick up. This would mean that Shawna would need a double to win, but also left the possibility of a tie if she had a strike and nine-spare. Shawna would get up and nail her first shot putting all ten pins down. On her second shot, she would leave a ringing ten pin. Her spare attempt would get a little wide to the right and fell into the gutter just before hitting the ten pin giving Ron the win, 193 to 192.
This would leave us with all three Finalist looking for another AHT SFT title and a chance at the $1,350 first place prize. Ross Lyon would be the #1 seed overall and he was looking at capturing his 2nd title. His previous title was when he was a right handed bowler, but due to some injuries he has taught himself to bowl left handed. Ron Gonzales was looking on trying to improve on his SFT title total. Ron already has seven titles and was looking to try to catch up to the total titles of the late, great Lynn Arthur, who holds the SFT record with ten titles. Josh Williams was also looking to add to his SFT title number as he won his first title last month at Bowlero Kyrene.
The Final match would be a great as all three bowlers would duke it out to the final frame. Ross would have the initial advantage with 48 pins of handicap while Josh (10 pins) and Ron (20 pins) would look to make up the difference. Midway through the match it looked like Josh would have the upper hand as he was able to string a few strikes together while Ross would have a couple of open frames. Ron would keep pace by picking up all his spares and trying to adjust to carry a couple of shots. It would all come down to the tenth frame with everyone neck and neck. Josh would finish first striking on his first shot and his second shot would hang a little outside leaving the 2-4-10 split. Josh would get one pin on his spare attempt putting him at 220. Ron would get up next and drill the pocket on his first shot. Now he would need to double to get pass Josh, but his 2nd shot attempt would look good off his hand and hit the pocket leaving a pocket 7-10 split. Ron would pick up one pin and finish at 214. Ross would be up next and would need a mark and good count to win. His shot in the tenth looked good off his hand and would rattle the pins down for a strike. Now he would need just 5 pins and his next shot would get six and his spare would get one pin to finish at 222, to narrowly get by Josh. This would give Ross his 2nd SFT AHT title and $1,350 first place prize. Congrats to Josh Williams on 2nd place and also to Ron Gonzales for 3rd place.
Thank you to everyone that came out to support our event and make it a success. We hope to see you all next Sunday at Bowlero Mesa. Hope you all have a great week!
