Our event this weekend was at Bowlero Gilbert! We don’t get too many chances to hold events at this bowling center and we were really excited to be back. This bowling center is really nice, has a very cool layout with 28 lanes on one side and 16 on the other side. It’s an upscale venue with delicious food and a huge arcade. We had a pretty good turnout with 77 total entries (53 qualifying and 24 parlay), 26 total cashers and a 1 in 3 cash ratio and paid out over $4,200 for only two squads of bowling! We averaged about 40 bowlers per squad for both squads! A huge thanks to the SFT AHT family for supporting the event and showing Bowlero Gilbert why they should keep having back!
The bowlers played on the 45ft Dick Weber oil pattern which was a little tougher pattern then what’s been put out the last few weeks. Bowlers had to be accurate and repeat their shots to have success on this pattern. If bowlers got the ball a little wide, then it wouldn’t recover and leave a washout, but if they got too far inside, the ball would go high and might’ve left a split. Picking up spares was key.
As always, we want to congratulate our Parlay Power players Carlos Vejar, Michael Killgore, William Kegley and Jim Knauf. They were able to take their $25 entry fee all the way to the quarterfinals! Michael even made it all the way to the Finals. Also congrats to Chris Wilson and Brian Jackson who both won the Momma’s Mystery Score with a 175 game. They split the pot and each took home $135.00. Stacie Huglin was your winner of the free Track plastic bowling ball with an option to upgrade to any high performance Track ball for $85.00!
The quarterfinals didn’t have a re-oil because it was only a 2-squad event. Normally this means that the scores would go up, but this time they still stayed pretty close to the same. The lanes never really seemed to open up a great deal for the bowlers. There was a bit of back and forth in some divisions, but it ended up with Brian Martinez and Mike Hodge as your two advancing players in the C Division. Josh Black and Michael Killgore advanced in the B division, and Chris Tucker and Dylan Taylor advanced in the A division. The semi-final matches weren’t super exciting with most of the matches being decided before the 10th frame. Chris Tucker was able to defeat Dylan Taylor, 235 to 183, and advanced as the A division champion. Michael Killgore was able to get around Josh Black, 221 to 182, to advance as the B division champion. Mike Hodge outpaced Brian Martinez, 235 to 203, to become the C Division champion.
The final match on the other hand was good one! Going into the Finals Chris Tucker was looking for his 1st SFT AHT title and had just come off a great game against Dylan Taylor. Michael Killgore was looking to show the power of the Economy Parlay, as he had made it to the Finals off his $25 entry. Mike Hodge was looking to repeat as champion as he had just won his 1st SFT AHT title, at this very center, back in May. It was pretty close the entire game as players just made their spares and tried not to make too many mistakes. Michael Killgore would finish the match first. He needed to keep the pressure on Mike Hodge, who was right on his heels. Michael’s first ball in the tenth went a little high leaving the 3-6-10. He would need to pick up this spare because Mike Hodge just opened in the 9th frame, missing an 8-pin, to set up this down to the wire finale. Michael’s spare attempt looked good off his hand, but started to hook late down the lane and chopped the 3-6, leaving the ten pin for a score of 213. Chris Tucker would finish out his tenth frame with a double and nine for a score of 166. Chris looked good throwing the ball, but a few nasty splits had gotten the better of him. Mike Hodge would need fill out his frame in order to get the win. His first ball was right on point for a strike and he was able to get enough pins on his fill ball to finish at 215 for his 2nd SFT AHT title and $800.00! Mike’s win would give him back to back wins at Bowlero Gilbert. Congrats to Michael Killgore for 2nd place and also Chris Tucker for 3rd place.
Thanks to everyone for coming out to this event and supporting it. We look forward to seeing you all at our next event at Mesa East Bowl next Sunday! Hope to see you all there!
