Our event this weekend was at AMF Mesa and we had a pretty good turnout considering there were other events going on throughout the Valley. We had 102 total entries (75 qualifying & 27 economy parlay) for 2 squads, with 30 prize winners and a 1 in 3.4 cash ratio. We paid out over $5,600 in main and side event prize funds. The players bowled on a pattern we do not use often that is a tough one to get used to. The PBA pattern Badger that is 52 foot in length. This is the longest oil pattern used in competitive play and “hooking” your ball into the pocket is not really an option at the beginning. You have to get used to your ball fading back high flush until they start to break down a little bit. The big difference throughout the day was spares and with so much oil on the lane it was hard to “hook” at spare attempts that you would normally be able to convert.
We want to welcome Charles Valenzuela, CJ Valenzuela, and Frank Meyer to the SFT AHT family! We hope you guys all had a good time in your first SFT AHT event and hope we see you back at our future events. Congrats to Brandon Loss on being this weekend’s Parlay Power Players! Brandon took his $30.00 investment and turned it into a semi-finals check! Also, congrats to Micah Coleman, Albert Gonzalez, Robert Sanders, CJ Sturgess, Alex Benton and Gordon Barker for making their first quarterfinals or who were returning to the quarterfinals in a while. CJ Sturgess would win Momma’s Mystery Pot, for $470.00, with a score of 162. Your winner of the free plastic bowling ball, with an option to upgrade to any Track high performance ball for $85, was Kevin Duong!
Since this was a 2-squad tournament we would not re-oil for the quarterfinals. This resulted in a few higher scores with the oil pattern breaking down forcing bowlers to make spares and stay clean to advance. We would see some tight scores and it would all come down to the third and final game of the quarterfinals to determine who would move on to the Semi-Final round. We would have 24 quarterfinalists and with our 1 in 3 cut ratio, from the quarterfinals to the semi-final round, we would cut to the Top 2 in all three Divisions.
The A Division would have Brandon Loss (+166) emerge as the #1 seed and he would take on Dishawn Byrd (+126). The B Division would see Alex Benton (+77) take on Tracy Lee (+45). The C Division #1 seed would be Robert Sanders (+52) versus CJ Sturgess (+24).
The A Division semi-final would be a close match but Dishawn would be able to get enough to defeat Brandon, 214 to 193. The B Division would also be a somewhat close match but Tracy would pull it out to beat Alex, 226 to 194. The C Division would be a nail biter and would come down to the tenth frame. CJ had jumped out to an early lead but Robert would comeback to win the match, 217 to 214.
Going into the Finals we would see Dishawn and Tracy looking to add to the title number. Dishawn was looking to win his fourth AHT SFT title and Tracy would looking to add her second title. Robert was making his first Finals appearance and looking to win his first title. It seemed like Dishawn had to be the favorite going into the Finals as he had been on fire all day going +157 in qualifying and +126 in the quarterfinals.
The Finals match would be a close match from start to finish. All three bowlers would stay within ten pins of each other throughout the match. The handicap difference wasn’t much of an issue either as the gap from A Division to C Division was only 13 pins. It would all come down to the ninth and tenth frames. Dishawn would get a strike in the ninth to double and set himself up for the tenth frame. Tracy would get a strike as she needed to stay with Dishawn. Robert Sanders, working off a double, would have a small lead going into the ninth but his first shot would hit the pocket a bit high and leave the dreaded pocket 7-10. Robert was unable to convert the spare as he would pick off the 7-pin to give Dishawn and Tracy a chance. Dishawn would finish up the tenth frame needing all three strikes to close out the match. Dishawn would strike on his first ball in the tenth. Dishawn’s second shot would pull a bit left and crossover leaving the 4-pin, which he would pick up to finish at 228. Tracy would get up in the tenth and would get a much needed strike on her first shot. Tracy’s second shot would go high through the nose but would leave the 6-10. She would convert the spare and finish with a score of 235. This would leave Robert needing to get all three strikes in the tenth to finish in second place as his max score was only 233. Robert’s first ball in the tenth would hit the pocket but leave a stone 9-pin. Robert would pick it up and then strike on his fill ball to finish at 223.
This would give Tracy her second AHT SFT title and $1,000.00 first place prize! Congrats to Dishawn Byrd on second place and $600.00. Also congrats to Robert Sanders on third place and $350.00! Thank you to everyone that came out this weekend to bowl our event. Thank you to the staff at AMF Mesa for hosting our tournament and providing great service all day. Also a huge thank you to Michael Dragon for stepping in for Tawna this weekend as we wouldn’t be able to put this tournament on without him.
We’ll be back for another 2-squad tournament in a couple of weeks at Bowlero Via Linda. This will be our last event of the 2023 Winter Circuit. You can check on our website to see if you are in the Top 4 in quarterly points and don’t forget about the quarterly prizes that will be awarded. Hope you all have a great week and we’ll see you all soon!
AMF Mesa Finals - Dishawn Byrd vs. Tracy Lee vs. Robert Sanders
