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These big 3-day major events are always the most anticipated and exciting events of the year. They always feature the largest fields, hardest patterns, biggest prize funds and exciting finishes. This event was no exception with 237 entries, 63 cashers, a 1 in 3.8 cash ratio, and paid out over $10,000.00 in main and side event prizes. It also was one of the most difficult patterns we have ever used. Many days it resulted in cut scores that didn’t event require bowlers to bowl their average. Players that were bowling slightly below their average for series were advancing to the quarter finals. The pattern used was the 38ft Alcatraz pattern that is a new pattern released by Kegel during bowl expo. It was pretty flat, and what made it hard wasn’t that it was hard. I know that sounds silly, but what made it hard was that it was deceptive. If a pattern looks hard, you mentally prepare for it. This pattern looked pretty playable at times. You would throw a few shots, get a little free hook and get comfortable. Then you would think you threw one pretty good and be staring at a split. When the result contrasts significantly from the expectation it leaves you feeling much different than it would if you expected you had to throw it perfect every time. Either way, the pattern was one of the best we have ever used. Players of all styles were able to find homes in their comfort zone and play the lanes from multiple angles. There is no doubt that the Alcatraz pattern will be making a return in the future.
As always, these big events also help us meet more new bowlers. This one introduced us to Ben Jones, Dan Lanious, Larry Mires, Chris Kile, Sean Palmer, Robert Rappleyea, Mark Wojtusiak, Shelli Wojtusiak, Matthew Zweig, Nora Ruiz, and Laura Opp. That is right, over 3 years later from starting up we almost had a dozen new bowlers at one event! That is awesome! Thanks to all of you for coming out to bowl the events and we look forward to seeing you at the next one!
We also got to see a lot of new bowlers making it to their first ever SFT AHT quarter finals! Dori Jaffess, Drew Leinberger, Robert Rappleyea, Dave Andress, San Palmer, Michael Dragon, Mark Wojtusiak, Bill Held, KJ Martinez, and Jeremy Opp were all first times this weekend! We are happy to know that there were 10 first time quarter finalists in the 41 person quarter finals field. We also had a number of players making it all the way to the quarter finals from the economy parlay. Players like Lea Mester, David Andress, Joe Mascio, Robert Rappleyea, and Russ Oviatt were all players that had a chance to turn $25 into $1,500.00. However, they all fell short with none of them making it past the quarter finals. Which means the list of players to do that is still only Charlie Light.
The quarter finals was a huge field of 41 which was cutting to the 4 in each division. There was a lot of moving around and clutch bowling the last game for players to fall out and sneak in. In the A division the semi-finals would be #1 seed Charlie Price taking on #4 seed Ben Spencer , and #2 seed Ryan Burt vs #3 seed William Nedry. Charlie and Ben played hot potatoe trying to give it back to each other, with Charlie missing a 10 pin in the tenth to lose to Ben by only 4 pins. However, in the other match, the opposite happened with both players looking for the throat. Ryan was able to strike just a little bit more defeating William Nedry. The match between Ryan and Ben for the A division title was a good one. As the higher seed, Ryan got to pick the pair the match was bowled on. He chose the same pair that Ben bowled on last round which many people thought was a mistake, but Ryan did it because Ben scored so low on it. He picked right with Ben scoring pretty poorly on the pair again, but unfortunately so did Ryan. However, Ryan got up in the 10th frame with a chance to double to win. It wasn’t going to be easy as he hadn’t struck on that lane at all during the game. However, Ryan impressed everyone with some incredible shots to defeat Ben and move on as the Labor Day A division champion.
The B division semi’s had #1 seed Danny Del Llano vs #4 seed Mark Wojtusiak and #2 seed Brian Roever vs #3 seed Mike Umstead. Both of these matches weren’t too close with Danny defeating Mark and Brian defeating Mike. The next match between Danny and Brian was a bit of the same with Danny having the lead the majority of the match. Danny had an unusual approach to playing the lanes that seemed to really give him an advantage in not leaving splits. He was throwing it very hard in between 3rd and 4th arrow keeping it very tight to the pocket. This was a zone he was very comfortable with and was able to repeat pretty well because of it. Due to this approach, he seemed to never really split and was able to convert most of his spares for the day. He did the same against Brian which meant he would be representing the B division in the $1,500.00 final match.
The C division semi’s were #1 seed Dori Jaffess vs #4 seed Chris Hawkins and #2 seed James Roethle vs #3 seed Robert Ervin. Both of these matches were also not to close with both top seeds showing why they were the top seeds. However, the next match between Dori and James was pretty good and back and forth for most of the game. However, a string of strikes that included a lucky break for James near the end of the game gave him enough to claim the Labor Day C division title.
The final match was all Danny all the way. He never really stuck a lot but he stayed out of trouble and made his spares while his opponents were either leaving splits or missing easy spares. This was all that Danny needed to finally take home his first SFT AHT title, a major title and $1,500.00! James had enough to maintain 2nd place and $800, leaving Ryan in 3rd place with $400. Many people have seen Danny helping out at the events getting scores. He has been our most reliable lane monitor for quite some time, but a new job has allowed him to bowl a little bit more and we couldn’t be happier to see him finally get that first title. Believe it or not, after bowling poorly during the economy parlay squad on Monday morning he was considering not bowling any more squads. I think he is happy he made the decision to give it one more try. Great bowling Danny!
We look forward to seeing everyone at our next event at Glenfair Lanes on Sunday, September 13th. It will be a minor event with a $600 guaranteed first place prize and will pay $1000 with 70 qualifying entries. See you all there!
Final Match: