Our event this weekend was at AMF Tempe Village. We had a great turnout with 101 total entries (66 qualifying and 35 economy parlay), with a cash ratio of 1 in 3.6, paying out over $4,500 in main and side event prizes. The players bowled on the 42ft PBA Scorpion oil pattern that played pretty tough for most of the day. There were some higher scores but bowlers were able to play a variety of angles on the pattern. The cut scores stayed around +30 for most of the day, which meant that you had to bowl about 10 pins over your average per game to qualify.
We’d like to welcome Norris Richards, Noel Hernandez and Nicole Armstrong to the AHT Strikeforce family! All three came out to bowl their first event. We’d also like to congratulate this weekend’s Parlay Power Players in Mackenzie Ickes. Mackenzie turned her $25 investment into and a spot in the quarterfinals. Congrats to Melissa St. Lawrence for making her first quarterfinals in only her second event!!! Your winner of the free plastic ball, with an option to upgrade to any Track high performance ball for $85.00, was Mark Large!
The quarterfinals were bowled on a freshly oiled pattern and it showed. All of the semi-finalists were the only bowlers that were able to bowl their average and the average cut was +14. Your leader in the A Division was Josh Molloy (+73) and he would take on Josh Williams (+0). In the B Division we would see Ron McDonald throw two big games in the quarterfinals to take the #1 seed at +43 over Shelby Dempsey (+43) by one pin. The C Division would see Edward Lee (+21) facing off with Tracy Lee (+1).
The A Division semi-final would go back and forth with Josh Molloy working on making up the difference in handicap with Josh Williams, who was getting 15 pins of handicap versus Josh Molloy getting zero pins of handicap. The match went back and forth until the ninth frame with Josh Molloy missing a spare to give Josh Williams a slight lead. Going into the tenth frame Josh Molloy would need to strike out to try and put some pressure on Josh Williams, but would end up leaving a swisher 7-pin and would lose 178 to 207. The B Division semi-final would see Ron McDonald making his 2nd consecutive semi-final appearance this month. He would have to take on Shelby Dempsey who has been bowling well in the past two tournaments. Their match would go back and forth with Ron losing his look and Shelby was able to get by him 183 to 172.
The C Division semi-final would be a real nail biter with Ed Lee and Tracy Lee going back and forth throughout the match. Tracy would keep clean through the 6th frame, but would open in the 7th to give Ed a chance to take the lead. Ed would capitalize by striking in the 7th and 8th frames. Ed would seem to be in position to win, but would leave a 10-pin in the ninth and would not pick up his spare to give Tracy a slight chance to get back into the match. Tracy would pick up her spares to finish the match at 209 with handicap. Ed would go into the tenth frame only needing good count of 8 or better. Ed’s first ball would go a little high leaving the 3-6-10 and he would try to hook at his spare attempt but his ball would face up, barely missing the 3-pin, leaving him tied with Tracy at 209. With a tie they would go into a 9th/10th frame roll off. Ed would get up first for his ninth frame and his ball would go high leaving the 3-6-9-10. Ed’s spare attempt would chop leaving the 9-pin. Tracy would get up and get 8-spare for her ninth frame and would punch out with all three strikes in the tenth frame to shut out Ed and get herself to her first title match.
The Final match would see all three competitors looking for their first title and the first-place prize of $1,000! The favorite to win would have to be Josh Williams as he had been bowling pretty well for most of the day. The Finals would start out with everyone trying to get lined up. The handicap difference was not too distinctive with only a 20-pin difference between all three bowlers. Tracy would take a lead midway through the match as Josh and Shelby would struggle with lane transition. They both would leave splits and unable to convert while Tracy would cruise along picking up all her spares. Shelby and Josh would both try to catch up by striking in the ninth and tenth frames, but it would be too little too late and Josh would finish at 189. Shelby would pick up her spare in the fill in the tenth to get by Josh with a score of 192. Tracy would stay clean and finish with a clean 201 scratch score giving her the win and $1,000 first place prize. Congrats to Shelby for 2nd place and also to Josh for 3rd place.
Thank you to everyone that came out to support our event this weekend. Our next event will be our 3-day Labor Day Major event at Bowlero Mesa starting on September 5th. Hope you all stay well and see you soon!!!
