The event today was our final event for our Winter Circuit, which runs January through March. We had a pretty good turnout, considering there were multiple tournaments going on the same day. Also some bowlers that still had a chance to try and move into the Top 4 of the Winter Circuit standings with a win or cash. We ended up having 82 entries (59 qualifying & 23 economy parlay), 25 cashers and a 1 in 3.1 cash ratio. The event paid out over $3,800.00 in main and side event prize fund! The players bowled on a very tough 41ft Kegel Turnpike oil pattern that challenged bowlers to make shots consistently. Bowlers had early success playing right early on and then trying to moving inside once the oil started to carry down.
As always, we want to welcome our first-time bowlers to the AHT SFT family! Welcome Justin Smith, Dave Smith, Elizabeth Randall, Jorge Barry and Jon Berg, who all joined us for their first ever event this weekend! Elizabeth Randall was even able to qualify for the quarterfinals in her very first event! We appreciate you guys coming out to giving our event a try and we look forward to seeing you at the next one! We also want to congratulate Sammi Hernreich on being this weekend’s only Parlay Power Player! Also, congrats to Kyle Howard, Kevin Enomoto and Michael Sylve on making the quarterfinals for the first time in quite a little while!
The quarterfinals, like the rest of the event, were medium scoring with the standings being determined by the final game of the quarters. In the A Division, with only 7 players, we advanced to the top 2, which was Kevin Enomoto who was able to stay hot and finished at +74, with Mike Umstead following in a close second at +57. Kevin was the #1 seed and both players were looking for their next title. In the B Division, we had Justin Singleton cruising to the semi-finals at +43 and he would be taking on #2 seed Brooke Carroll, who finished at +25. Finally, in the C Division, we had Michael Sylve leading the way at +46 and he would be taking on fellow newcomer Elizabeth Randall who finished at +37. Both Michael and Elizabeth were making the most of their first quarterfinals appearance and also their first time making the semi-finals match.
The A Division semi-final match was a real nail biter with only 2 pins of handicap separating Kevin and Mike. It all came down to the 10th frame. Kevin needed to strike in order to put some pressure on Mike. Kevin’s first shot was right on the money and he was able to fill out his 10th frame. Mike needed to strike or spare out his 10th frame in order to beat Kevin. Mike’s shot was right in the pocket, but much to his dismay…he was left with a 7-10 split, allowing Kevin to move on to the finals. The B division semi-final match was also very close with Justin and Brooke battling it out to see who would make the final match. Justin was able to stay clean in the 9th and it all came down to the 10th frame. Justin got a little quick with his shot and left a 2-4-8-10 split, which left the door open for Brooke. She needed to strike to win, but ended up with a spare. On her fill shot she needed a strike to tie, but a light hit left her one pin short and allowed Justin to move on to the finals. In the C division semi-finals, all bets were off as Elizabeth caught fire and she was able to move onto the finals with a 243 to 185 win.
The final match started off back and forth with a few splits thrown in for all the bowlers. Elizabeth was able to pick up some spares and stay clean through the middle frames. Justin strung together a few strikes to try and get back into it the game, but came up short. Kevin also started a rally towards the end of the game and finished his 10th frame with all strikes to put some pressure on Elizabeth. This forced Elizabeth to spare in the 10th frame to get the win. She was able to pick up a 9-spare in the 10th to get her first ever SFT AHT title and $650.00! Kevin Enomoto came in 2nd place and Justin Singleton finished in 3rd place.
Our next event is going to be next Sunday, April 1st at Brunswick Mesa. Hope to see you all there!
