Our event this weekend was at AMF Tempe Village and we had a great turnout with 122 entries (81 qualifying and 41 economy parlays). We had 34 cashers, a 1 in 3.58 cash ratio and paid out over $8,400.00 in main and side event prize funds. The players bowled on the 45ft PBA Dragon oil pattern that played tough early on in the day, but scores would increase as the pattern broke down. Bowlers were able to play a variety of angles on the pattern as long as they were able to get their ball to read the lane and not overhook. The cut scores stayed around +70 for most of the day, which meant that you had to bowl about 15 pins over your average per game to qualify.
We had some new bowlers join us for their first ever event and we want to welcome June Hatfield, Jackson Beltoya, Vincent Colbert, Jr. and Michael Dewey who all bowled in their first event this weekend. We hope you all had a good time and look forward to seeing you at our next event. Congrats to June Hatfield and Michael Dewey who both made it to the quarterfinals in their very first event! Also, congrats to Sam Hsu and Alec Johnson for being this weekend’s Parlay Power Players. Sam and Alec were able to qualify for the quarterfinals off his $25 parlay investment. Congrats to Adam Orlopp and Josh Williams who both who won Momma’s Mystery Pot for $500.00 each!! This is Adam’s 2nd time winning Momma’s Pot in the past 3 events; maybe he needs to get a Power Ball ticket! Your winner of the free plastic ball raffle, with an option to upgrade to any Track high-performance ball for $85.00, was Nicole Smythe.
The quarterfinals would be bowled on the fresh oil pattern and scores were up and down. Those that could get their ball to roll versus hooking the lanes were able to take advantage. Since there were 9 bowlers in the A and B Divisions, we would cut to the Top 3, 1 in 3 cut ratio, for the Semi-Final round. Your A Division leader would be Josh Williams (+97) and he would face off against Alec Johnson (+75) and Hunter Mayes (+68). In the B Division your overall #1 seed would be Aaron Bell (+122) and he would take on both Andy Morin (+82) and Shelby Dempsey (+33). The C Division would see Kish Israni (+144) emerge as your #1 seed and he would be matched up against Connor Bell (+116).
The A Division semi-final match would go back and forth with each bowler stringing strikes and trying to gain the upper hand. It would come down to the ninth and tenth frames as Josh Williams would punch out for 4 in a row to finish at 250, cementing his spot in the Finals. Alec and Hunter would battle it out for 2nd place with Hunter able to strike enough to finish 225 to Alec’s 218. The B Division semi-final would see Aaron Bell jump out to an early lead and never look back. Aaron would open in the tenth, but it was already enough to finish the match with a score of 219. Andy would strike in the ninth and double in the tenth, but it would be too little too late to finish in 2nd place at 207. Shelby would finish in 3rd place with a 185 game.
The C Division semi-final match would be a real nail biter. Kish Israni has been on fire since the start of the 2021 season. Kish was looking to go back to back to back Final matches as he had already made the Finals in the first 2 events of the season and was the #1 seed going into the match. He would have to take on up and coming youth bowler in Connor Bell. Connor had just started bowling our events back in September and won his first title in November at Mesa East Bowl. Their match would go down to the tenth frame as Connor would finish the match first getting a strike and mark to finish at 226. Kish would need to double in the tenth to get by Connor. Kish’s first shot would throw all ten back as his ball hit the pocket flush. Kish’s 2nd shot in the tenth would look good and read the lane a bit early crashing through the head pin to leave the 2-7 split and he would go on to spare the split to finish at 224.
The Final match would see Josh Williams and Connor Bell both looking for their 2nd AHT SFT titles and Aaron Bell who would be looking at getting his first. All three bowlers had been bowling great in the quarterfinals and semi-final matches so it looked like it would be a shootout between them.
The Final match would start off with all three bowlers trying to settle in and get lined up. Connor and Aaron would fill their frames for the first couple of frames. Josh would nine spare in the first, then go a tear throwing the next six strikes in a row to jump out to an incredible lead. Connor would get lost in transition and dig himself a hole that he couldn’t get out of. Aaron would strike in four of the next six frames to try and put some pressure on Josh, but it wouldn’t be enough. Josh would finish out the game with a score of 256 scratch giving him his 2nd AHT SFT title and $1,150.00 first place prize!!! Congrats to Aaron Bell for 2nd place and Connor Bell on 3rd place.
Thank you to everyone who came out to support our event this weekend. We are going to be off next weekend, but we hope to see you all at AMF McRay on January 31st for a 2-squad event! Have a great week!
FINAL MATCH - Josh Williams vs. Aaron Bell vs. Connor Bell
