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Well we have all seen a line graph before, whether it’s in the stock market or in a math book. They all go up and at some point in time start to flatten out. I am excited to say that after two and a half years, the SFT AHT entry counts line graph is still going up! We were very excited to set another record of 249 entries at this year’s $1,500.00 Labor Day event. Our previous record was this year during Memorial Day weekend, and our Labor Day entries were up nearly 25% from last year’s 203 entries. This allowed for all of the guarantees to be increased like they were in past majors. The low to cash went from $80 to $90, semi-finalist that lost in round 1 got a minimum of $200 instead of the advertised $160. The semi-finalist that lost in round 2 got a minimum of $250 instead of $180. Additionally, the 3rd place finisher of the tournament got $500 instead of $400. I know I say this all the time, but the SFT AHT family has really done an incredible job at supporting the events and spreading the word for others to come out and bowl. All of you are the reason the events continue to get bigger and bigger. I hope that together we can continue to work to bring some really huge, great paying events to the valley in future years.
We took a much different approach with the pattern for this major, then in past majors. Usually, we focus on the pattern being flatter and in the 38-40ft range. This typically made the majors painfully difficult with a premium put on spare shooting. We wanted to mix it up a little bit with this event. We didn’t make the pattern as flat as usual. We used a 45ft pattern that was based on the old PBA Shark oil pattern. However, we tinkered with the volume a little bit to create more hook and more transition than you would usually get on a 45ft pattern. This allowed for straighter players to still get the reaction they needed, but the speed of transition also helped keep the scoring pace at a reasonable level. Overall, the pattern really forced players to play the lanes in a different way. For some people, it allowed them to show their versatility, and for others it quickly showed their weaknesses. All in all, the scoring was moderate for most of the weekend and all styles and skill levels could compete.
As always we want to welcome all of the new bowlers that came out to join us for this event. Frances Salas-Cruz, Cj Crowley, Matt Yarbrough, Elaine Valadez, Thomas Farrell, Chris Mueller, Jay Ciccanti, Michael Martinez, Jason Escalera, Logan Smith, Dallas Orr, and Larry Bourgeois all bowled in their first event ever this weekend and want to thank them for giving the club a try! We hope you all had a good time, and we look forward to seeing you at your next event. We want to send a special congrats to Jay Ciccanti and Mike Martinez for being the only first timers that made it to the quarter finals.
We also like to congratulate everyone who did some pretty special things this weekend. First off, congrats to Joe Hart, Mike Martinez, Jay Ciccanti, Don Caron, Jason Satterlee, and Doug Stock on advancing to their first ever SFT AHT quarter finals this weekend. We always like to see new faces having success at the tournaments. Also congrats to Ron Schloss, Gary Demeny, Robin Unfricht, Brian Roever, and Russ Oviatt on advancing to the quarter finals through the Economy Parlay. Brian Roever made it all the way to the 2nd round of the semi-finals from his $25 investment and Russ made it all the way to the finals! Remember, for only $25, you can come take a shot at our tournaments!
That brings us to the quarter, semi and overall finals. We voted to use a different finals format for the majors in our season meeting last year, and it turned out to be a lot of fun. The final match for this event was a stepladder match between the 3 division champions, with seeding being based on their quarter finals pin fall. This event ended up putting a huge emphasis on leading the quarter finals round.
The leader in each division got to pick the pair the semi-finals was bowled on. The leader in the A division was Dylan Taylor, B division was Steven Acuff, and C Division Bo Copeland. Typically, it seems that the number 1 seeds that pick the pair make the following round the minority of the time. Picking the pair is definitely an advantage, but it seems that maybe the pressure of being the #1 seed may have a larger impact at the handicap level of competition. This event proved to be the same with Bo and Dylan not getting out of the first round of the semi-finals. The first round had 5 bowlers in each average division bowling one game and advancing to the top 3 on that pair. Those that lost in the first round were, Dylan Taylor, Joe Mascio, Robin Unfricht, Bo Copeland, Jason Turner and Bill Brackett. However, they were happy with their increased payout of $200 each with progressive pot.
This left our A division final match to be between #1 seed Sean Ashley, #2 seed Russ Oviatt and #3 seed Jason Satterlee. It was a fairly close match, but Russ ended up pulling ahead near the end of the match to make his 3rd consecutive major final match. He was 3rd at this year’s Memorial Day event, and was 2nd during last year’s Labor Day event. That is a very impressive statistic and is very good proof to any higher average bowlers that you don’t have to have a lot of handicap to still have a good shot at success at the SFT AHT events. As long as they are versatile enough to bowl on the variety of conditions we bowl on. Russ typically has a single digit to no handicap at most of the events and hasn’t dominated but has had a lot of success.
The B division final match was between #1 seed Hokey Begay, #2 seed Steven Acuff and #3 seed Zack Bryan. This match was a lot like the A division final match, with Steven Acuff eventually pulling away and making his first ever SFT AHT title match appearance. Steven has been working really hard on his game with a coach and putting in the time to get better and this weekend really showed that. The pattern definitely suited his game, but he also made great shots when he needed to.
The C division final match was between #1 seed Ryan Staudinger, #2 seed Stacie Huglin and #3 seed Brian Roever. This match was very interesting because all three bowlers were coming from a high scoring first match but all of them bowled incredibly low during the C division final match. It was very close between all three going into the 10th but Stacie did what she needed to do to shut everyone else out. Stacie is mother of Chris and Zack Huglin, two up and coming youth bowlers that had some success at this weekend’s event too. Stacie showed why she is still the coach of the family. We always love seeing women succeed at our events and the crowd was definitely pulling for her as well.
The final match was a stepladder with the first match being between Stacie and Russ. This match didn’t start off well for Russ, who had an open and a foul on the right lane that he was having approach issues on. Stacie who was as cool as a cucumber just made here spares and stayed out of trouble for most of the match to seal up her first ever title match appearance against #1 seed Steven Acuff.
Steven continued his dominance to start the match with two strikes and Stacie had a rough start with a couple pocket splits. Her kids were there to support her on the bad breaks and get her refocused for the rest of the game. Stacie threw some great shots near the end of the game to get back into the match, but Steven just kept striking in the end to shut Stacie out and take home his first ever SFT AHT title, $1,500.00 and the BIG CHECK! Congrats to all of you and great bowling!
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