This weekend’s event was at Bowlero Via Linda for a 2 squad event and had a great turnout with all the other tournaments going on in the Valley this weekend. The event drew 89 total entries (57 qualifying and 32 economy parlay), had 28 cashers, a 1 in 3.2 cash ratio and paid out over $5,300.00 in main and side event prize funds. The players bowled on a 37ft Melbourne oil pattern that was higher scoring on the fresh pattern, but got a lot tighter as the day went on. We haven’t bowled on this pattern before, but the key was to get your ball into a roll and play a little straighter along the track. Those that could do that were able to take advantage of the pattern. We would see Dylan Taylor shoot an impressive 299 game, just coming up a bit short of 300, but great bowling Dylan!! The average cut scores for the weekend were medium with bowlers just needing to get their average for all three games to make the cut.
We want to send a warm welcome to Elysia (Johnson) Basurto, Alec Johnson, Wade Trembath, Suzanne Allison, Yuri “George” Wendell Jr., Eddie Castellano and Ryan Doyle who all came out for their first tournament this weekend! Alec and Ryan even made it to the quarterfinals on their first try! We hope you all enjoyed yourself, and we hope to see you again soon! We would have a couple of Parlay Power Players in Alec Johnson and Sam Hsu. Both were able to advance to the quarterfinals on their $25.00 investment with Alec even making it to the Finals. Great bowling guys!!! Also congrats to Juan Brooks for winning the Momma’s Mystery Score with a 131 game for $500.00! Just remember if you $5.00 can win you some big money even if it isn’t super high score. Your winner of the free plastic bowling ball raffle, with an option to upgrade to any Track high-performance ball for $85.00, was Chris Tucker.
Since this was only a 2 squad event, there was no re-oil for the quarterfinals and it would show and scores were about even until the final game. In the A Division, the #1 seed would be Alec Johnson (+57) and he would have to face Dylan Taylor (+37). The B Division would have Chuck Lucas (+22) taking on Chris Berryman (+7). In the C Division we would see Kevin Dollar (+56) barely inch out Eddie Thompson (+55) for the #1 seed. The advantage of each #1 seed player is that they are able to pick the pair of lanes that they want their semi-final match would take place. Also, another advantage is that they get to choose the order of which player would start first and which lane they would finish on.
The A Division semi-final match was a great match with Alec and Dylan both striking at will. They would continue to strike with Dylan opening up with a gutter ball in the 8th frame and only getting 9 on his spare attempt, but that would be the penalty for playing so close to the gutter, every once in a while it will go in the gutter. Alec would stay clean and defeat Dylan 268 to 225. The B Division semi-final match would be a grind fest as Chuck Lucas and Chris Berryman would stay neck and neck throughout most of the match. Chris would leave open frames in the ninth and tenth frames while Chuck would get a timely strike in the ninth frame. Chuck would get enough count in the tenth to win match 169 to 152. In the C Division semi-final we would see Kevin Dollar absolutely catch fire throwing a huge 287 game at Eddie Thompson, who would struggle with lane transition to finish at 185.
Going in the Final match we would see Kevin Dollar looking to win back to back tournaments as he won at Bowlero Mesa on November 1st for his first title. Alec Johnson would be looking to capture his first title in his first title match and had made it all the way to the Finals on just his Economy Parlay. Chuck Lucas was also looking for his 2nd title in as many months, as he had just won his first title back in September at this exact same center in the exact same 2 squad event format. Could this be a coincidence or what???
The Final match would start off with all three bowlers striking. Alec would spare in the 2nd and double in the third and fourth frames to try and make up the handicap difference he was facing. Kevin would struggle after his opening strike picking up spares and trying to get lined up on the lanes. Chuck would stay clean up until the fifth frame leaving the 1-2-4-8 and only getting 3 on his spare attempt to leave an open frame. Alec would try to take advantage to catch up to Chuck and Kevin, but would chop his 4-7 spare attempt in the fifth. Chuck would double in the sixth and seventh frames to jump out to a lead.
Going into the tenth frame Alec would need to strike out to put pressure on Chuck to fill out his frame. Alec’s first shot in the tenth frame looked good, but would go high leaving the 4-7 which he was able to pick up. Alec would go on to strike on his fill to finish at 201. Kevin would get up and would need all three strikes to get past Alec. Kevin would strike on his first ball in the tenth, but he would only get 6 on his second shot and finish at 193. Chuck would go on to get good count and finish the match with a 217 game and give him his 2nd SFT AHT title and the $900.00 first place prize. Congrats to Alec on 2nd place and also to Kevin for coming in 3rd place.
Thanks to everyone for coming out and supporting the event this weekend. It’s amazing that we averaged 45 bowlers per squad for our 2 squad event. We look forward to seeing you all next Sunday at Mesa East Bowl for another 2 squad event and we wish you all a great Thanksgiving!!! Hope you all have a great week!
FINAL MATCH
