Bowlero Via Linda - 1/5/20

Our season opener of 2020 was an awesome one! We were at Bowlero Via Linda and we had 100 entries, 27 cashers, 1 in 3.8 cash ratio and paid out over $4,000.00 in main and side event prize fund! The players bowled on a 40ft Athens pattern that was very misleading.  Many of the bowlers would think they had it figured out and had a good shot and then they would move pairs and find it hard to find that same shot again.  Because the pattern wasn't very long or very short, it allowed players to attack it from all angles.  We had straighter players do well and players that like to cover more boards and curve it more. It was a great turnout and a lot of fun in our season opener. 

We had some parlay power players in Tina Niles, Andy Morin, Willy Vuong and Josh Brown!  Congrats to all of them for making it to the quarter finals from the economy parlay!  A big congrats to Kaylee who made it pretty far off the economy parlay!  We also want to congratulate her, Tina Niles, Chris Hatcher, Kevin Enomoto, Harold St. Lawrence, Chris Stafford and Trevor Jolley for being players that either made their first ever quarterfinals or their first quarterfinals in a long time. 

The quarterfinals were tight, but in the A Division we had #1 Dylan Taylor squaring off against Jonathan Ferrell, in the B Division #1 seed James Roethle would take on Kaylee Khong, in the C Division #1 seed Trevor Jolley would take on Chris Stafford.  All three number one seeds would lose, but in the closest matches we have ever seen in one event.  We have had many semi-final matches come down to just a few pins, but we have never had all three semi-final matches come so close that the difference between the winners and the losers of all 3 matches COMBINED was less than 10 pins!

In the A Division, we had one of the strangest things I have ever seen. Dylan Taylor needed to get up in the 10th and only needed a mark and 9 to win.  Before he is about to bowl a completely random man, who wasn't at the tournament all day walks up to him near the approach to say hello and talk to him.  Apparently, it was an old friend of Dylan's that hadn't seen him in years and had no idea that Dylan wasn't practicing but instead was bowling for hundreds of dollars.  Eventually, Dylan threw his shot, not striking but making the spare. Then on his next shot, needing 9, missed left, went high and got 7 pins, which allowed Jonathan to win the match by just 1 pin. 

In the B Division, we had James Roethle getting up in the 10th frame with a good size lead and only needing a mark. His shot jumped on him leaving the 3-6-9-10 which isn't an easy spare.  He gave it the room he needed to, but it didn't come back enough, leaving the 3-pin standing and giving Kaylee the win by only 2 pins!  This allowed her to move on to her first ever title match! 

In the C Division, in was an intense battle back and forth, with both players being very close in the 10th and both sparing the 10th and filling it pretty well which allowed Chris to hold on to a very narrow 5 pin lead and win his match by only 5pins! He would also be moving on to his first ever title match! This also meant that all 3 matches combined were decided by only 8 pins! Pretty crazy! There is no way that the final match could be as close as those matches... right?  Wrong!

In the Final match all three players started off slow, with no strings, however by the 6th frame Jonathan was able to start and finish a 3-bagger that boosted him into the lead. However, an open in the 9th frame made that lead disappear and going into the 10th frame, everyone still had a mathematical shot at winning, with Kaylee needing the most help.

Kaylee couldn’t double in the 10th, but she did fill her 10th. Chris finished next and split in the 10th and couldn’t convert.  However, he got 8 on his first ball and was on a spare.  This allowed him to finish with 208 with handicap to barely get around Kaylee who finished with 205.  Last, was Jonathan Ferrell who just got off an open, but had three strikes in a row before that.  He had a shot that wasn't quite what he wanted and left the 2-4-5.  He now had to make it to win the tournament, and if he missed it, he would not only not win, but drop all the way down to 3rd.  His shot didn't look bad and made its way over, but sent the 2, in front of the 4, and leaving his 10th frame open and a final score of 203 with handicap!  So, our final match was had only 5 pins separating 1st and 3rd!  Pretty crazy!  Congrats to Chris Stafford on getting his first title in a very exciting final match! 

Thanks to everyone for coming out and we will see you next weekend at AMF McRay!