We had an incredible turn out this weekend with 90 members, 148 entries, 36 cashers, a 1 in 4.1 cash ratio and paid out over $6,400.00! The turnout was so good that we were able to pay out even more money than our traditional guarantees! Our low to cash was increased from $80, to $90; semi’s went from $160 to $170; and the 2nd place in each division went from $185 to $250! All of the minimum payouts were increased by over $500! We want to thank all of the SFT AHT new and old family members that made this event such a huge success! We are happy to see you all continue to spread the word and keep coming out and then reap the reward of your efforts with bigger and better prize funds. Thanks to all of you!
The bowlers bowled on a 39ft USBC Nationals Pattern which is the same pattern that is used for the singles and doubles event in Reno, Nevada this year. The pattern proved to be attackable from all angles as players with all styles were making the finals. However, it was very clear that there was a bit of a tilt towards the lefties. On Saturday the top 3 bowlers in the A division were all lefties, 8 in the quarter finals, 4 in the semi’s, and both players in the final match were left handed. There are times in bowling when you get the advantage, and there are times that you get the disadvantage. What is important is that when you get the advantage, you take advantage of it, and some of the lefties did!
As always we want to welcome some of the new SFT AHT family members to the club. We had a bunch of them this weekend, which was awesome, so here they come! Derek Stearnes, Nicole Coffer, Maury Williamson, Keith Murphy, Jesse Torres, William Stafford, John Nucci, David Sevier, Charles Kremer, Kylee Bonneville, John St. Clair, Rogers Bustamante III, Jeff Ellis, Jordan Adair, Abbie Hugill, Zach Chosa, and Joe Nucci. The entries are great but when we get 17 new people coming out to see what SFT AHT is all about, that is even more amazing! Thanks to each and every one of you that came out to give the tournament a try, we hope it exceeded your expectations! We look forward to seeing you all at your next event!
We also want to congratulate all of those that made their first quarter finals appearance this weekend. Those bowlers were Sam Sickles, Carmen McGalliard, James Cook, Stacie Huglin, and Joe Nucci. We also want to give a shout out to some families within the family that had some family mojo going on this weekend. The Huglins, McKays, and Carons all had multiple members bowling and multiple members in the quarter finals. The Huglins had Zach (older brother) Chris (younger brother) and Stacie (mom) all bowl and ALL make the quarter finals! That is pretty impressive! The McKays had the father/daughter team of Ted McKay and Aubree McKay both in the quarter finals. Lastly, the Carons, Don Caron and step-daughter Sam Sickles both made the quarter finals. We love seeing families out competing with each other! Congrats to all of you!
That leads us to the results of the event! There were 15 total quarter finalists in each division and they were cut down to the top 5 in each division for the semi-final round. Your divisions and seed numbers were as follows. The A division, #1 seed – William Nedry, #2 seed – Kevin Enomoto, #3 seed – Ron Gonzales, #4 seed – David Kurlan, and #5 seed – Shane Valleau. The B Division, #1 seed – Chris Huglin, #2 seed – Samantha Sickles, #3 seed – Zach Huglin, #4 seed – Chase Lazenby, and #5 seed – Carmen McGalliard.
The semi-final matches in the first round weren’t too dramatic. David Kurlan and Ron Gonzales moved on from the A division, and Carmen McGalliard and Chase Lazenby moved on in the B division. The 2nd round however was VERY dramatic. In the B division final match, Carmen had to get at least 9 on her first ball to win the match or mark and she was able to do so, so she advanced. The dramatic match was in the A division where the bowlers were bowling incredibly well the entire match. David Kurlan got to choose his starting lane and chose to finish first so he could put the pressure on Ron. David was on a string of strikes and had the lead going into his 9th and 10th frame. He left a swisher 7 pin in the 9th frame, covered it, then a 3-6-10 in the 10th, covered it, and filled his frame to end with a 243 with handicap for the match. This meant that Ron just needed mark to win his match. Ron, a lefty, pulled his first ball and left the 2-7 split! Was David’s plan going to work? Ron hooked at the spare and COVERED IT! He was clutch and advanced to bowl Carmen in the tournament’s final match!
The final match started off with Ron having a huge lead early by opening up with the first 5 strikes. However, as soon as it seemed like the match was over a split and missed single pin space, combined with a couple doubles by Carmen put her back in the match. However, Ron threw the strikes at the end when he needed to, to shut Carmen out and take home his 2nd SFT AHT title, $1,000.00 and an early lead in our Spring Circuit that started with this event. Congrats to him for first and Carmen for 2nd and taking home $500!
Our next event will be a fun force format event and will be the start of our new partnership and scheduling with the ACBA (Arizona Classic Bowling Association). On Saturday only, we will be running a 40 frame game tournament at AMF Union Hills on the Route 66 oil pattern. The ACBA will then have a tournament on Sunday at the same bowling alley on the same pattern! If that doesn’t sound cool already, we will also be featuring “beat the director” that Sunday at the ACBA! For more info on ACBA click here, and for more info on “beat the director” click here. I look forward to bowling with and against all of you for the ACBA event. It should be a lot of fun! See you all there!
