AMF McRay - 4/18/21

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Our event this weekend was at AMF McRay and wow what an unbelievable turnout.  We drew a record breaking 143 total entries (94 qualifying and 49 economy parlay) for only 2 squads.  If you think about it, that was almost the same amount of entries that we had for our last 3 squad event at Bowlero Kyrene a few weeks ago.  We had 38 cashers, a 1 in 3.76 cash ratio and paid out over $7,500.00 in main and side event prize funds. The players bowled on a 35ft Boardwalk oil pattern that played a bit harder than usual with bowlers seeing a lot of friction on the fresh, but would be able to get some miss room as the day went on with all the hold from the urethane balls going down the lanes.  This pattern can tend to be a bit high scoring because it allows some miss room to the right if the bowler is able to get far enough to the right.  Also some pairs would have a nice look while other pairs didn’t have quite the same look.  The scores on the fresh pattern were a bit low to start out, but scoring exploded as the day went on with in the later squads with most bowlers shooting close to +50-60 to make the cut to the Quarterfinals.

We want to welcome some of our new bowlers that came out this weekend! Chip Carr, Brian Fritz, Joshua Chandler, Joseph Potter, Kelvin Douthard, James de la Cruz, Gabriel Ortega and Joanna Molloy all came out to join us this weekend for their first event.  Congrats to Brian Fritz and Joshua Chandler who both were able to make it to the quarterfinals on their first try.  Also congrats to Chad Summers and Aaron Stein who were are two Parlay Power Players this weekend.  Both Chad and Aaron made it the quarterfinals off their $25 economy parlay entry with Chad making it all the way to the Semi-Final match with a chance of making the Finals!  We also had a few bowlers make it to their first quarterfinals or their first quarterfinals in quite a while in Josh Mullen, Mike Umstead, Vance Varholdt, Nicole Smyth, Kevin Brooks, Brandon Johnsonkroman, Mark Yakich, Thayne Hahn, Joshua Chandler and Brian Fritz.

We had a Momma’s Mystery Pot winner in Sandra Pennington, who would win $40.00, with a game of 153.  Currently have three pots all worth $500.00 and unfortunately Sandy’s number was drawn on the fourth pot.  I know that’s not the pot you want to win, but it never fails that someone always wins that lowest pot when we get multiple Momma’s Pots of $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 Nicole Smyth.

Since this was a 2 squad tournament, there would be no re-oil before the quarterfinals.  This usually means that scores are a bit higher as the bowlers are on the double burn from the previous squads.  We would cut down to the Top 2 bowlers in each Division, with the cut coming down to the third game of the quarterfinals.  In the A Division, your #1 seed was Dylan Taylor (+124) and he would have to take on Parlay Power Player Chad Summers (+73) and James Roethle (+62).  The B Division leader was Vance Varholdt (+96) and he would face off with Nicole Smyth (+75) and Quinten Bell (+68).  Meanwhile in the C Division Ackrianne McDaniel (+106) would be your #1 seed and have to bowl against Mark Yakich (+63) and Tracy Lee (+62).

The A Division semi-final match would go back and forth with it all coming down to the tenth frame.  James would struggle throughout the match and finish up at 186.  Dylan would finish out the match with nine-spare and getting only 7 on the fill to finish at 221.  Chad would finish up needing to double in the tenth to win the match.  Chad would get a strike on his first ball, but would leave a single pin spare to finish at 220.  This would give Dylan the win by only 1 pin!

The B Division semi-final would start off with Vance striking in the first three frames to jump out to a quick lead.  Both Nicole and Quentin would try to keep pace and stay clean by picking up all their spare attempts.  Vance would gutter open in the fourth and fifth frames to give Nicole and Quentin a chance to quickly catch up.  Quentin would get lined up and strike on the next four of five frames to put away the match with a 238 game.  Nicole would finish up in 2nd at 199 and Vance would get to 188 for 3rd in the division.

The C Division would be a high scoring match.  Your #1 seed Ackrianne McDaniel would open up the match by sparing her first frame, but would miss single pin spares in the next couple frames to dig herself into a small hole.  Tracy would strike in the first frame and looked to capitalize, but would split in the third frame, which she didn’t convert.  Mark would stay clean through the first four frames to get out to a small lead.  Tracy would struggle to carry, but would continue to pick up her spares.  Ackrianne would get lined up and start striking getting five of her next six to finish up the match at 243.  Tracy would open in the tenth with a split to finish at 199.  Mark would put together a four bagger and fill out the tenth with a 270 to give himself a spot in the Finals. 

Going into the Finals we would see Dylan Taylor looking at getting his 8th AHT SFT title.  Dylan had been on a roll all day leading the qualifying and quarterfinals for the A Division.  Quentin Bell was looking to add his 2nd title and was looking at that first place prize of $1,300.00!  Mark Yakich was making his 2nd Finals and wanting to get his hands on his first title.  Mark had just dropped a huge 270 game in the semi-final round, so he felt like he had a really good chance to capitalize.

We would have some video issues with Facebook Live for the Finals match, so sorry about that.  The Final match would start off with Mark leaving the 6-7-10 and then picking it up!  Dylan and Quinten would both start off the match striking and it looked like it was going to be a high scoring match.  Dylan would go a bit high in the third frame leaving the 3-6 and he would go on to pick up his spare.  Quentin would take advantage of this and continue to strike until the fifth frame in which he would leave a ring ten pin, which he would pick up.  Mark would spare in second frame then open in the third, but he would double to get himself back on track.

Halfway through the match we would see Quinten ahead of Dylan and Mark.  Mark would open in the sixth and seventh to drop him behind Dylan and Quinten.  Dylan would struggle with carry on the right lane leaving single pin spares that he was able to pick up.  Dylan would finish up the match with a nine-spare and 7 on his fill for 215.  Mark would double in the eighth and ninth to give himself a chance to pass Dylan for a difference of $300.00.  Mark would need to double and get nine to pass Dylan.  Mark would leave a six pin and his spare attempt went a bit right to open and Mark would finish at 194.  Quinten would catch fire in the second half of the match and put away the match easily finishing with 253 to give himself his 2nd AHT SFT title and $1,300.00 first place prize.  Congrats to Dylan Taylor on coming in 2nd place and also to Mark Yakich for coming in 3rd place.

Thank you to everyone that came out this weekend to support our event and make this a record breaking event for 2 squads.  We are off next weekend and hope to see you all on May 2nd at Bowlero Mesa for our 3 squad standard event.  Check out our website for our upcoming Memorial Day Major at Bowlero Glendale.  Hope you all have a great week!!!

FINALS - Dylan Taylor vs. Quinten Bell vs. Mark Yakich  (sorry had signal issues at the center)

Part I

Part II