Our event this weekend was at Brunswick Kyrene we had a nice turnout considering there were three other events going on throughout the Valley. We had 78 total entries (48 qualifying & 30 economy parlay) for 3 squads, with 24 prize winners and a 1 in 3.3 cash ratio. We paid out over $4,300 in main and side event prize funds. The players bowled on a pattern we don’t use often that is a tough one to get used to. The PBA pattern Badger that is 52 foot in length. This is the longest oil pattern used in competitive play and “hooking” your ball into the pocket isn’t really an option at the beginning. You have to get used to your ball fading back high flush until they start to break down a little bit.
We want to welcome Tyler Coldiron, Nicholas Jimenez, Brandon Johnson-Kroman and Garret Strehl to the SFT AHT family! We hope you guys all had a good time in your first SFT AHT event. Congrats to Jim Winnie on being this weekend’s only parlay power player! Jim took his $25 investment and turned it into a $200 check! Also congrats to Brian Jackson, Brad Erickson, John Paul Carrero, Lenny Grom and Nicole Smyth for making their first quarterfinals or who were returning to the quarterfinals in a while. Your winner of the free plastic bowling ball, with an option to upgrade to any Track high performance ball for $85, was Chuck Lucas!
The quarterfinals were bowled on fresh conditions and the scores were low, but those that made it to the next round were able to figure out the pattern and pick up their spares. Your leader in the A Division was Eric Flick and he would have to face off against Brian Jackson. The B Division semi-final match would pit #1 seed Dave Nelson against Jim Winnie, and the C Division semi-final would see the red hot #1 seed Lenny Grom vs. #2 Stacie Huglin. The A Division semi-final would see Eric and Brian battle back and forth. Eric was able to pick up some timely spares and defeated Brian, 201 to 189. The B Division semi-final match saw Jim Winnie grind it out and outlast Dave Nelson, 229 to 208. The C Division semi-final match was very close and would come down to the final frame to decide who would move on to the Finals. Lenny Grom had been on fire for most of the day, shooting huge sets in both the qualifying and quarterfinal rounds. Stacie Huglin had been in the position before and would rely on her experience to remain calm. She stepped up in the tenth frame and was able to double and get nine on the fill, forcing Lenny to strike on his first ball in the tenth. Lenny's shot looked good off his hand, but the ball skidded a bit too far leaving 1-2-8, giving the win to Stacie by three pins, 245 to 242.
Going into the final match Stacie Huglin and Jim Winnie were both looking for their 2nd SFT AHT titles and Eric Flick was looking for his 4th title. Jim had just won his first title a few weeks ago at Brunswick Via Linda and a win would give him a nice lead in for the Winter Circuit standings. Eric was the only #1 seed to make it out of the semi-finals and would have to lean on his experience to try to hold both Stacie and Jim off. The Final match would start off fast with Eric and Stacie both crushing the pocket for strikes. Jim started the match still trying to line up and leaving a tough spare, but was able to pick it up. Eric and Stacie would strike in the 2nd frame and it looked like this was going to be a higher scoring match, but Eric missed inside a bit in his third frame to split leaving the 4-6-10 and was unable to convert. Jim would try to get himself lined up quickly, but couldn't get his ball to shape up the way he wanted it to. Stacie meanwhile would jump out to huge lead by striking in her first four frames. She would stay clean through most of the match, shooting an incredible 259 to easily win her 2nd SFT AHT title and $600.00!! Congrats to Eric Flick for 2nd place and Jim Winnie for 3rd place.
Thank you to everyone that came out to support the event! We look forward to seeing everyone at our next event in two weeks at Brunswick Mesa on Sunday, February 10th! Good luck to everyone going to the True Amateur Tournament (TAT) in Las Vegas!
