Our event this weekend was at AMF Union Hills lanes. We had a total of 71 entries (48 qualifying - 23 economy parlay), 20 cashers, a 1 in 3.5 cash ratio and paid out over $3,000 in main and side event prize fund! The players bowled on a 38ft Alcatraz oil pattern that was very tough on the fresh, but quickly, and I mean quickly, opened up and yielded pretty high scores, but it was mainly for the styles that could get left, create steeper angles in the front part of the lane and use the friction in the middle of the lane to create some free hook. The scores were very low in the parlay, but by squad three they climbed up by more than 60 pins taking a cut score of +70 on average.
We want to welcome Robert Mendoza, Jason Eubanks and David Saffold on bowling in their first event today! It is still baffling that we are still getting new bowlers at every event nearly 8 years since starting this. Thanks to all of you for coming out and giving it a try. We hop you had a good time and we look forward to seeing you at the next event! Robert and Jason were pretty impressive, making the cut in their first event! Robert went even further! How far? You have to read on to find out! We also had Ernie Malapo as our lone parlay power player, turning his $25 entry fee into a spot in the quarter finals that he ended up taking even further than that! Nice bowling to all of you!
The quarter finals was back on the fresh, which mean the scores were back to being pretty low again. In the A division, we had an exciting finish with John Verbil being the leader, but Bob Hanson and Charlie Price tieing for the last spot. In our quarterfinals if there is a tie for the last spot, we have a 9th and 10th frame roll off. In the roll off, Bob was the higher seed which allowed him to determine the order that they bowled. He decided to have Charlie start the match. Charlie had an errand shot that missed right and left a wash out. However, he converted the spare to make sure Bob didn't feel too comfortable. Bob didn't look phased at all as he threw a near perfect shot on the right lane and struck. On the left lane however, he missed a little bit to the right and it never recovered leaving the 1-2-4-8 which is very easy to chop on this patter due to the amoung of hook in the middle of the lane. Bob's spare shot looked pretty good out of his hand, but a slight break at the end caused him to chop it, leaving the the 8 pin. Charlie was then able to get up and make a good shot to strike in his 10th frame to advance to the A division final match against John Verbil. The B division would have #1 seed Mike Dragon vs #2 seed Chris Tucker and the C division would be #1 seed Ernie Malapo vs #2 seed Robert Mendoza.
The A division semi final match made it evident that Charlie was starting to heat up and get comfortable as he took a commanding lead early with a string of strikes and maintained it the entire game. In the B division final match, we had a very exciting back and forth match. It was anyone's game going into the 10th. Mike finished the match first and wasn't able to strike, leaving the 3-6, but converting it and striking in the fill to force Chris to throw the first two strikes in the 10th. Chris made it look easy with two perfect shots that split the 8-9 and allowed him to move on as the B division champion. In the C division, Ernie had a rough start and was never really able to get it going, which allowed Robert to cruise to an easy win with only 208 with handicap.
The final match had two players (Chris & Robert) looking for their first title and Charlie, a seasoned veteran looking for his 5th! The match started off with Chris taking an early lead with a string of strikes. He stopped striking, converted his spare, and then started striking again leaving Robert and Charlie in his dust. Chris dominated the final match with more great shots and a plethora of strikes, bowling 276 with handicap to take home his 1st SFT AHT title! The finish for 2nd and 3rd was a close one with Charlie having to strike out in the 10th to secure 2nd place. Charlie threw 3 great shots, again proving his expereince in the pressure moments to secure 2nd and the $300 prize.
Thanks to everyone for coming out to the 3rd event of the season! We look forward to seeing you at our next event at Brunswick Kyrene lanes next Sunday, or in Vegas at the TAT in a couple weeks!
