After a nice two week break our event this weekend was at Mesa East Bowl. It was a two-squad standard and sometimes that means less entries since there aren’t as many squads. Well it was jam packed with almost 50 bowlers per squad! We had great turnout for our first 2 squad event of the year with a total of 101 entries (57 qualifying and 44 economy parlay), 26 total cashers, and a 1 in 3.9 cash ratio and paid out over $4,200.00 in main and side event prize funds. The players bowled on a very tough 42ft Kegel Autobahn oil pattern that had low cut scores to begin with, but once the pattern broke down scores went up. Most divisions took in the +60 range to advance. The medium length pattern allowed players to play a variety of angles including down and in and deep inside angles, but if you got it a little too far outside, then your ball wouldn’t come back or would leave a washout.
As always, we want to welcome our first-time bowlers to the SFT AHT family! Welcome Larry Seger, Quinten Bell, Jeff Bell, Edith Finn, Kenneth Wichmann, Dustin Miller, Frank Bell, Christopher Mayes, Lenny Rose III and Rod Hopper to our little bowling family! We hope you all had a good time at your first event, and we look forward to seeing you at the next one! Also, congrats to Frank Bell and Kenneth Wichmann for advancing to the quarterfinals in their first ever event! Also, congrats to Sean Ashley, David Izenberg and Jim Haines on advancing to the quarterfinals through the economy parlay! We almost always have at least one bowler that advances by winning the parlay and bowling well again in the next squad. Your winner of the free plastic ball raffle, with an option to upgrade to any Track high-performance bowling ball for $85.00, was Ron Gonzales!
Since this event was only 2 squads, there was no re-oil before the quarterfinals. This resulted in some medium to high scores with the standings being very tight and Division leaders being determined by the final game of the quarterfinals. In the A division we would see your #1 seed Jeremy Opp (+75) taking on SFT veteran Eric Flick (+55). In the B Division, your #1 seed was Vance Varholdt (+105) facing off with James Fitting (+71). In the C Division it would be #1 seed Thomas Darnell versus newcomer Frank Bell (+43).
The A Division semi-final match would see Eric Flick catch fire defeating #1 seed Jeremy Opp, 260 to 205. In the B Division, Vance Varholdt was able to get by James Fitting thanks to a few timely strikes, 235 to 196. The C Division semi-final match was back and forth with both bowlers trying to find a good line to the pocket. Thomas was able to double in the ninth and tenth to pull ahead of Frank, 217 to.
The Final match was see Eric Flick trying to win his 4th SFT AHT title. Vance and Thomas were both looking at winning their first title. The favorite going into the match had to be Eric Flick. He had just shot 260 with handicap in the semi-final round and was looking to capitalize.
The match would see Thomas Darnell come out firing on all cylinders throwing a Turkey in his first three frames. Eric would start off trying to line himself up but would split on five of his first six frames putting him into a deep hole. Vance would keep pace with Thomas but got a bit lost in transition in the middle frames. Thomas would ride his early lead and never look back winning his first title and $825.00 with a nice 262 game. Vance would come in 2nd with a 207 and Eric would strike out from the sixth frame for 194 and 3rd place.
Thanks to everyone that came out this weekend to make this such a successful event! We look forward to seeing you at our next event on Saturday, February 15th at Lakeview Lanes!
