Our event this weekend was at Bowlero Glendale. This was our last tournament for the 2021 Summer Quarterly Circuit and we had a nice turnout for a two-squad event considering that we were bowling on a busy Saturday morning. We had a total of with 69 entries for the event (43 qualifying and 26 economy parlays) and had 23 total cashers, a 1 in 3 cash ratio and paid out over $3,600.00 in main and side event prize fund. The players bowled on the 43ft PBA Earl Anthony oil pattern that was being used for the first time. The pattern played a bit tricky with all bowlers being able to play a variety of angles. It seemed that those that could stay clean and out of trouble were able to score higher.
As always, we would like to welcome our newest members to the SFT AHT family. This weekend we had Melloni Zimmer, Kyle Zimmer, Jerry White and Jaden Workman come out to give our tournament club a try. Congrats to Jaden who was able to make it to the quarterfinals in his first time out. Congrats to our two Parlay Power Players in Alec Johnson and Estell Gushwa, who both made it to the quarterfinals on their $25.00 economy parlay entry. Both bowlers even had a chance at the first-place prize, but more on that in a bit. Congrats to Jaden Workman, Estell Gushwa and Norman Moore who all made either first quarterfinals or their first quarterfinals in quite a while. Also, congrats to Cesar Padilla for winning Momma’s Mystery Pot, with a 159 game, for $500.00! Your winner of the free plastic ball raffle, with an option to upgrade to any Track High Performance ball for $85.00, was Kevin Dollar.
Since this event was only 2 squads, there was no re-oil before the quarterfinals. This resulted in some very low scores with the standings being very tight as bowlers needed to bowl at least one good game to make the cut. With our 1 in 3 cut ratio, from the quarterfinals to the semi-final round, we would cut to the top bowler in the A Division while the B and C Divisions would cut to the top two bowlers. Your leader in the A Division would be Dylan Taylor (+58) who would be seeded directly into the Finals, but first we would have to see who would meet him there. The B Division #1 seed would be Jason Lowry (+138) and he would take on Nicholas Tejada (+19). The C Division #1 seed would be Eddie Wilcox (+96) and he would have to face off with Chuck Lucas (+60).
The B Division semi-final would go back and forth with both bowlers struggling with the lanes. Nick would open up the ninth with a huge strike while Jason would nine-spare. Going into the tenth Jason needed to put some pressure on Nick, but would go nine-spare and six on the fill to finish at 190. Nick would just need to get a mark to win. Nick would strike out in the tenth to win the match 226 to 190.
The C Division semi-final match would be a real nail biter. Eddie had started off the match on fire, throwing three strikes in a row to open up a pretty good lead. Chuck had missed a couple of spares in the fourth and fifth frames to dig himself into a hole, but would throw strikes in the next four frames to get himself a back into the match. Eddie would open in the seventh and eighth frames to help give Chuck a chance. Going into the tenth both bowlers were tied. Chuck’s first shot in the tenth would look good off his hand, but would leave a ring seven-pin. Chuck would pull his spare attempt a little and would just miss the spare to finish at 225. Eddie would need to strike on the first ball in the tenth to have a chance to win. Eddie would calmly get up and crush the pocket on his first shot, then would crush the pocket again on his second shot to seal up the match with a 235.
Going into the Finals we would see Dylan Taylor looking at adding to his already impressive win total of 7 AHT SFT titles and a shot at getting back into the season points race. Nicholas Tejada was looking at winning his second title in the last two months, with his first title coming last month at Bowlero Kyrene. Nick was also looking at sealing up the 2021 Summer Quarterly circuit as he was in 2nd place going into the tournament, but with this Finals appearance looked to take the lead. Eddie Wilcox was making it to the Finals for the first time and was looking at winning his first title and taking home the $600.00 first place prize. Eddie just recently started bowling our events this past summer and has been improving every time we see him come out and was looking to capitalize on these improvements in his game.
The Finals would start with all three bowlers lined up as they were would strike and it seemed like it would come down to who would miss first. Eddie would open in the fifth frame missing a four-pin spare to give Dylan and Nick a chance to catch up. Dylan would go strike, nine spare and strike in the sixth, seventh and eighth to fall behind with the handicap difference. Nick would also go strike spare strike in the fifth, sixth and seventh. Eddie would rebound from the missed four pin and throw strikes in the next three frames to breakaway from Dylan and Nick. Eddie would double in the tenth to win the match with a 273 game, giving him his first AHT SFT title and $600.00! Nick would finish up in 2nd Place with a 231 and Dylan would come in 3rd place with a 186.
Thank you to everyone that came out this weekend to bowl the event. Hope you all enjoy next weekend off and hope to see you back on Sunday, October 10th at Bowlero Kyrene!
FINALS - Dylan Taylor vs. Nicholas Tejada vs. Eddie Wilcox
