Our event this weekend was a big one with almost 100 entries in only 2 squads! We ended with 93 entries (66 qualifying and 27 economy parlay) had 27 cashers, a 1 in 3.5 cash ratio and paid out over $5,000.00 in main and side event prize fund. The players bowled on the 43ft Shark oil pattern that had pretty low scores. It was a long enough patter where missing to the outside normally meant the ball wasn't coming back, but wasn't long enough to create any kind of hold if you missed to the inside either. This forced players to be pretty accurate, but also allow them to play different parts of the lane. Our cut scores were all below the +30 mark, which meant that to advance didn't even require bowling over your average.
We did have some new bowlers again! Let's welcome Nathan Schiltz, Jennifer Lee and Joseph Shaffner to the SFT AHT family! It's crazy to thinkt hat 6 years later, in our last event of the season we are still getting new bowlers that have never given our tournament a try! We hope you three had a good time and look forward to seeing you all again.
Since it was a 2 squad event we went straight into the quarter finals and since the scores went up a bit in the 2nd squad, you would have expected scores to go up in the quarter finals but they still stayed pretty low. It was pretty clear that the new shark pattern was a tough one. The A division took +41 to advance and was #1 seed Dylan Taylor vs #2 seed Josh Molloy. The B division took +27 and was #1 seed Chuck Lucas vs # 2 seed Lynn Arthur. The C division took +52 and was #1 seed Lea Mester vs #2 seed Josh Black. At this point it also meant that Lynn Arthur locked up 2017 player of the year. The other story lines at play were Lea Mester looking to turn $25 into $1,000.00 from the parlay, and Josh Black and Josh Molloy looking to get their first SFT AHT titles.
The A division match came down to the 10th frame with Dylan Taylor finishing last. He needed good count to win his match but was able to make a good enough shot ot strike and seal his match up which meant he would be bowling for his 5th SFT AHT title. In the B division, we had Lynn Arthur showing why he likes long oil so much with a nice 241 game with handicap. In the C division, it also came down to the 10th frame where Lea was able to fill her 10th to put the pressure on Josh and force him to mark. He left the 6 pin on his first shot and was able to run it down to make his first ever SFT AHT title match appearance.
The title match was a good one. Josh Black and Dylan Taylor got out into the lead and Lynn was never able to catch up. He said he was mentally exhausted from worrying so much about closing out the overall player of the year race. Dylan and Josh battled back and forth and going into the 10th frame either could win, but Dylan was finishing first. Dylan really needed to double to force Josh to strike in the 10th but he left a 4pin which meant that even if he spared it, Josh only needed a mark. Josh stepped up in the 10th with a pretty good shot that crept high and left the 3,6,7 10 split which is certainly makeable. He had to make it to win his first ever title. His shot got a bit right, but he threw it slower then usual and it curved too much hitting to the left of the 3 pin and not converting the spare, which gave Dylan Taylor his 5th SFT AHT title and $1,000.00!
Thanks to everyone for coming out to the event! We look forward to seeing you either at our banquet or matchplay invitational or our first event in 2018 on January 7th!
