Well, there were a lot of other tournaments going on today, plus the pro bowl. We really weren't expecting another great turn to our 3rd straight minor event. As always, the SFT AHT family surprised me! The event drew 73 total entries which consisted of 45 qualifying entries and 28 economy parlay entries. It had 18 cashers, a 1 in 3.8 cash ratio and paid out over $3,300.00 in main and side event prizes. It is clear that the members are really enjoying bowling every weekend. There were some concerns that it may be tough for some people to afford to bowl every weekend and if people would get burnt out on it. This was our 4th event in 4 weeks and our 3rd straight minor. Each event has new bowlers that didn’t bowl in the last event and there are some members that just can’t get enough to bowl. So far the changes and additions for the 2015 season look very promising and we are excited to see if they continue to have successful results.
The players bowled on the 35ft boardwalk oil pattern which was used before at AMF McRay in 2014. Agham Mejia won his first ever SFT AHT title there and he was back to defend his title. Boardwalk is loved by some and hated by others. While it there is plenty of hook, for some people, it is too much. It was very clear that the lefties seemed to enjoy the pattern, and the straighter players that could get right of the 2nd arrow. As the squads progressed, the lanes got much trickier from pair to pair. The shorter patterns tend to have a more noticeable carry down which can make moving from pair to pair that much more difficult.
As always we like to welcome all of the new bowlers that came out to their first event this weekend! Brad Young, James Senatore, Ty Koons, Bill Moore, Carlos Guzman, Matt Fox, and Ray Besignano bowled in their first event this weekend! We hope you all had a good time in your first event and we look forward to seeing you at the next one!
We had another quarter finals where the re-division that we normally do left the division breakdowns exactly the same. This was another great sign that the club made the right adjustments trying to create more entries and a more even distribution of the entries in each division. The quarter finals was a pretty low scoring one, which allowed for a lot of players to be able to make moves the very last game. It ended with #1 seed Jason Satterlee vs #2 seed William Nedry in the A division, #1 seed George Dayton vs #2 seed Zack Huglin in the B Division, and #1 seed James Roethle and #2 seed Eric Schade in the C division. This was personally, one of my favorite sets of semi-final matches. Mainly because each match was a great representation of the skill level of each average division. The Adivision players were both great bowlers that were very accomplished amateur bowlers, the B division players were two players that have flashes of brilliance but lack consistency, and the C division players were two that didn’t strike a lot but made their spares.
Jason Satterlee was able to defeat William Nedry, George Dayton defeated Zack Huglin and Eric Schade defeated James Roethle. This meant that we had two first timers in their first title match and Jason Satterlee who was in his 3rd title match trying to get that monkey off his back, and get his first SFT AHT title. It was a great final match, with Jason pulling off to an early lead, but they slowing down with a string of spares. The match really had a pivotal moment when George missed a single pin spare to help Jason keep his lead, and Jason converted a baby split to keep the lead. The baby split is already a tough spare, but it becomes even harder on a short pattern. Even with that, George still had life. Jason got up first in the 10th frame with the ability to throw two strikes in the 10th to lock up the title. His first shot was a little quick and came in delayed but, had enough to roll the 3 pin forward for a strike. His second shot was also decent but a pinch inside but was online enough to trip the 6 pin and give Jason his very first SFT AHT title in a very clutch and gutsy performance!
Congrats to everyone this weekend! We look forward to seeing you all at our next event at Let It Roll bowl on Saturday, January 31st! IT will be a fun force format that we will be announcing info on this week! Then it is off to Vegas for the True Amateur Tournament! See you all there!
