This ended up being a very memorable event with a lot of story lines. It was a great note to leave on while we take a couple weekends off before our big Labor Day event. As always, the family came out strong again for this event while we also added a few new members to the family! I would like to welcome Carlos Vejar, Lordan Ferguson, Michele Large, Lisa Henderson, Mandy Etem, Dennis Smith, James Settle Jr, and Michael Holland to the Strike Force family! These bowlers and the rest of the members came out to create 92 entries, 23 cashers, a 1 in 4 cash ratio and a total payout that totaled over $3,300! We also had a few members who made their first quarter finals appearance, quick congrats to Victor Mendoza Jr., Carlos Vejar, Lordan Ferguson, Michele Large, Lisa Henderson, and Vince Dorsey on their first quarter finals.
The first story line we will start with is Mr. Lordan Ferguson who we were introduced to first during mid-week qualifying. Lordan wasn’t sure if he wanted to bowl at his entering average, but assured me that if he got more handicap then he would bowl. After telling him that rules are rules, he reluctantly decided to bowl at his 196 entering average. Turns out Lordan was absolutely in the zone and didn’t give himself enough credit for his skills. He rode his skills all the way to the final match where he bowled Jai Janoe for the tournament finals in what would be an INCREDIBLE MATCH. (More on that to come..)
As always we have to give a shout out to those that strut the power…. The power of what you ask? The power of the parlay! Anytime a bowler takes $25 and turns it into a quarter finals check, it deserves some attention! This event’s parlay master was Michele Large, representing all of the ladies out there! Michele came into her first event on Saturday morning with her husband and son. She was the newbie of the three but she ended up showing them up. She won the parlay in her division with +35 and rolled that into a +48 to make it to the quarter finals. Then she didn’t slow down making it to the semi’s and taking home over $160 off of her $25 investment! Congrats Mrs. Large! As Jesse said, it is clear that Tom taught you well!
This leads us to the other story line about our other tournament finalist, Jai Janoe. Jai was just a few pins away from making the cut in our last event. He started off that event with a huge game and was almost +100 after one game! He had a very difficult collapse the next two and ended up missing the cut by just a few pins and only one position. He was devastated, but that didn’t stop him from keeping his head up and battling it out again for the BIG CHECK! Jai came in and bowled the last squad on Sunday at 1pm and never looked back. He qualified with a score of plus +54, led his division in the quarters with +80, bowled a nice 232 in semi’s and during the finals… well that was an exciting event that deserves its own paragraph.
Jai came out of the B division defeating Ben Dewberry and Michele Large. Lordan Ferguson came out of the A Division with a nice score of 276 defeating Hokey Begay and Mike Morales. Jai and Lordan had a lot of momentum but they both were new to the stage of bowling the final match. The final match proved to be a bit of a challenge for both of them as they went back and forth. It was a grueling grind by both of them with chopped spares and open frames. It finalized with Lordan finishing with a 178 game. Jai was the last to throw and had a chance to win the match with a double in the 10
th. Jai got the first on a late trip 4 pin. One more strike and the check was his…. The ball sailed a little right and left the bucket. This meant that he now had to pick it up for a TIE! Jai showed his poise and converted the spare on what was a demanding condition for a 2,4,5,8 conversion. This is resulted in an exciting 9
th and 10
th frame roll off. Jai stayed clean during the roll off bowling a score of 40 and with handicap 45.4. This meant that Lordan, who had a strike in his 9
th frame of the roll off needed the first strike in the 10
th to win. Lordan got it a little left and left the 3,6 which gave Jai the $1,000, the title, and THE BIG CHECK! Congrats to both of you, and thank you for the incredibly exciting match! If you want to watch the final match check it out by
clicking here.
We don’t have any events coming up the next two weekends, but for those that are still itching to bowl check out our Southwest Tournament Calendar by
clicking here. This calendar will feature all of the tournaments in the southwest whether they are SFT events or not. If you know anyone that would like to add events to the calendar please have them contact us by
clicking here to get an event coordinator account. The director will be bowling some tournaments himself the next two weekends, the New Mexico Open and the season opening ACBA the weekend after. If you are interested in those events, you will find them on the calendar, and I will see you there! Thanks again to the SFT family and tournament staff. I look forward to seeing everyone at our Labor Day weekend event at Brunswick Mesa.
