Our event this weekend was at AMF Mesa and wow…what a turnout. We drew 140 total entries (98 qualifying and 42 economy parlays), had 36 cashers, a 1 in 3.88 cash ratio and paid out over $7,900.00 in main and side event prize funds. The players bowled on a 35ft Boardwalk oil pattern that played a bit harder than usual at this center. Usually, this pattern can tend to be somewhat 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. In the first squad we would only see one bowler shooting a 200 game, which would tell you how the day would go. The scores on the fresh pattern were low and would remain the same in the following squad. The key today was to try to bowl your average as we would see negative cut scores in all three Divisions to advance to the quarterfinals.
We want to welcome our new bowlers that joined us for this weekend’s event! Tunner Widger, Ryan Bollinger, Melanie Brown, Albert Deloney, John Garner, John “JC” Garner, Brett Harrison, Joshua Myers, Joseph Quihuis, William Vigil and Richard Welsh, all joined us this weekend for their very first event. We hope you all had a good time and look forward to seeing you at our next event. Melanie Brown and Brett Harrison would both make it to the quarterfinals in their first event with Brett even making it all the way to the Semi-Final round. We would have not one but two Parlay Power Players this weekend. Both Chris Brunick and Jeff Bandes were able to make it to the quarterfinals off their $25 economy parlay entry. We had a few bowlers make it to their first quarterfinals or their first quarterfinals in quite a while in Jeff Bandes, Jim Haines, Mike Umstead, Brett Harrison, Roy Ruth Sr., Melanie Brown, Isaac Chavira and Jordan Potts. We did not have anyone win the Momma’s Mystery Pot this weekend so those two pots will roll over to our next event at Mesa East Bowl. Your winner of the free plastic ball raffle, with an option to upgrade to any Track high performance ball for $85.00, was Terrence Smythe.
Since this event was only 2 squads there would be no re-oil before the quarterfinals. This resulted in some low scores with the standings being very tight through all three games. It seemed like it would come down to the last game in the quarterfinals to determine who would be our semi-finalists. We had 28 quarterfinalists, with all three Divisions having at least 9 bowlers with the C Division having 10 bowlers. The cut ratio from the quarterfinals to the semi-finals is 1 in 3, so that meant we would cut to the Top 3 bowlers in each Division.
The A Division would see Eric Flick (+70) emerge as your #1 seed and he would have to face off against Kyle Ponzo (+56) and Tim Eichhorn (+33). The B Division #1 seed would be Lenny Grom (+35) and he would take on Eddie Wilcox (+18) and Ryan Doyle (+8). The C Division would be led by Robert Smith Jr. (+94), and he would be the #1 seed overall. Robert would be up against Marcus Haley (+13) and newcomer Brett Harrison (+4). The #1 seed in each Division gets to determine which pair the Semi-Final match is bowled on and the order in which the bowlers start the match.
The A Division Semi-Final match would be a shoot out with all three bowlers being able to strike at will. It would come down to who would continue to get the carry. Eric Flick would finish up the match first getting to a score of 233. Tim Eichhorn would over come a slow start but would get the last 7 strikes in a row to finish at 244 and put pressure on Kyle Ponzo to do the same. Kyle would start off the match with front 6 but would strike when needed as he would finish with a huge 271 game (257 scratch) to win the match. The B Division Semi-Finals would not be as high scoring as all three bowlers would struggle with the pair. Ryan Doyle would hit the pocket, but struggle with carry as he would finish up with a score of 192. Lenny Grom would struggle as well but get enough strikes to finish at 207. Eddie Wilcox would finish up the match with the last four strikes to jump out and win the match with a score of 236. The C Division Semi-Finals would be a slug fest with all three bowlers struggling to get lined up. Brett Harrison would finish up the match first with a score of 145. Marcus Haley would barely squeak by with a score of 151. Robert Smith Jr. would stay clean for most of the match and take advantage of this by winning the match with a score of 205.
Going into the Finals we would see Kyle Ponzo looking at winning his first AHT SFT title and the $1,300.00 first place prize. Kyle had made the Finals before just last month at Bowlero Mesa where he had finished in 3rd place. Eddie Wilcox was looking at winning his 3rd AHT SFT title in the past six months and trying to jump into the Top 4 in season/quarterly circuit points race. They would both have to take on 2021 SFT Senior Player of the Year, Robert Smith Jr. Robert was also looking at winning his 3rd title and also looking at getting back into this season’s points race.
The Finals would start off with Kyle and Eddie both striking to start off the match. Robert would chop the 2-4-8 for nine. We would have a small break as the pair would need to be reset due to the scoring program having an issue with alternating lanes. After the break it would take a few frames for all the bowlers to get adjusted. Robert would stay in the lead as he had the most handicap. All three bowlers would continue to struggle halfway through the match with Kyle and Eddie chasing down Robert’s lead after Robert would open in the fifth frame. Kyle would strike in the sixth but would leave the 4-6 in the seventh. Eddie would also strike in the sixth but pick up his 7-pin in the seventh to stay in the match. Robert would mark in the sixth frame and then double in the seventh and eighth frames to stay in the lead.
Going into the last few frames it seemed like it was anyone’s match. Kyle would get his ball just a bit outside and hit the pocket very lite leaving the 1-2-8-9 which he wasn’t able to convert. Eddie would get up and strike in the eighth and ninth frames to force Robert to do the same. Robert ninth frame would see him go Brooklyn but leave the 7-9 split. Robert wouldn’t pick up the spare attempt and give Eddie a small lead. Kyle would get up and crush the pocket in the ninth to give himself a chance to get back into the match. Kyle would need all three strikes in the tenth and on his first ball in the tenth he would crush the pocket. Kyle’s second shot would go a bit lite leaving the 1-2-8 and he would pick it up to finish at 177. Robert would be up next needing to put some pressure on Eddie to match him. Robert’s first shot in the tenth would crossover through the head pin leaving the six pin which he would convert. Robert would strike on his fill ball in the tenth and he would finish at 207. Eddie would get up needing at least a mark and a strike to tie Robert. Eddie’s first ball in the tenth would absolutely crush the pocket for a strike. Eddie’s next shot would leave a ring ten pin which he would convert to win the match with a score of 217. This would give Eddie his 3rd AHT SFT title and $1,300.00!!! Congrats to Robert Smith, Jr. on second place and $750.00. Also, congrats to Kyle Ponzo on third place and $500.00!
Thank you to everyone that came out this weekend to bowl our event. We hope to see you all on Sunday, March 20th for our early bird 2-squad event! Hope you all have a great week!
FINALS - Kyle Ponzo vs. Eddie Wilcox vs. Robert Smith Jr.
