Mesa East Bowl - 3/20/2022

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We would be out at Mesa East Bowl this weekend for a special early bird 2-squad event.  This would be the last one of the 2022 Winter Quarterly Circuit and we would have several bowlers vying for the top spot.  Even with the earlier squad times we would see another amazing, recording breaking turnout with 164 total entries (115 qualifying and 49 economy parlays), 40 cashers and a 1 in 4.1 cash ratio, paying out over $9,400.00 in main and side event prize funds.  The bowlers bowled on the 36ft PBA Viper oil pattern that was a bit tricky going from pair to pair but would allow for some higher scoring if you could take advantage of it.  The cut scores stayed around +60 for most of the day, which meant that you had to bowl about 10-15 pins over your average per game to qualify.

As always, we want to welcome our first-time bowlers to the SFT AHT family!  We would like to welcome Brandon Ross, Greg Brooks, Thomas Pardun, Jordan Digos, Brandon Terry, Dacota Matlock, Scott Peterson, Daniel Milstead, Lanny Ross, Justin Wollman, DJ Dumas, Darryl Mangum, Steve Rathburn and Houston von Kriegenbergh!  We hope you all had a good time and look forward to seeing you at our next event.  Congrats to Greg Brooks, Brandon Ross and Houston von Kriegenbergh for making it to the quarterfinals in their very first event!  Also, we’d like to congratulate this weekend’s Parlay Power Players in Geoff Garrow and Mary Sturm.  They both made it to the quarterfinals on their $25.00 economy parlay entry, which was not an easy feat this weekend.  Also, congrats to Sally Taylor, Mary Sturm, Hokey Begay, Gary Hamm, Sean “TQ” Nimox, Jacob Ellis and Geoff Garrow for making their first quarterfinals in their first quarterfinals in quite a while!  We would also like to congratulate Terrence Smythe, who would win Momma’s Mystery Pot with a score of 135 for $500.00!!!  Your winner of the free plastic ball raffle, with an option to upgrade to any Track high-performance bowling ball for $85.00, was Jim Alme!

Since this event was only 2 squads there would be no re-oil before the quarterfinals.  We would see 31 bowlers in the quarterfinals and with our 1 in 3 cut ratio we would be taking the Top 3 bowlers in each Division after the 3 quarterfinal games.  We would see the cut scores remain about the same with the standings being very tight and it looked like it would come down to the last game in the quarterfinals to determine who would be our semi-finalists.

The A Division would see Tim Eichhorn (+53) come out as your #1 seed and he would take on Josh Anthony (+50) and Sean “TQ” Nimox (+44).  The B Division would have newcomer Houston von Kriegenbregh (+71) as the #1 seed, and he would have to face off against Hokey Begay (+67) and Carter O’Neal (+62).  The C Division would see Jordan Weeston (+104) as the #1 seed overall versus Justin Lewis (+101) and Sally Taylor (+66).

The A Division semi-final would be a back-and-forth match with it all coming down to the ninth and tenth frames.  Josh Anthony would struggle with carry throughout the match.  He would get a spare in the ninth but would open in the tenth frame to finish with a score of 198.  Sean “TQ” Nimox would chop the 3-6 in the ninth frame in which he was coming off a three bagger.  “TQ” would go on to punch out in the tenth frame to finish at 219.  Tim Eichhorn would be up and would strike in the ninth and then go nine-spare, strike in the tenth to win the match with a score of 222.

The B Division semi-finals also be a nail-biter as it would all come down to the tenth frame.  Houston would finish up the tenth frame by chopping the 6-10 spare to finish at 211.  Hokey would get up and strike on his first ball but go light on the second shot leaving the 2-8.  Hokey would convert the spare and finish at 222.  Carter O’Neal would be up next and would need to get a strike and good count to win.  Carter would go nine-spare, strike to finish out the tenth frame and finish second in the Division with a score of 219.

The C Division semi-final would be another close match as Justin Lewis would punch out with a four-bagger in the ninth and tenth frames to finish at 230.  Sally Taylor would open in the ninth frame and then go nine-spare, strike in the tenth frame to finish at 235.  This would mean that Jordan Weeston would need to get a mark and good count to win the match as he was working off a double from the eighth and ninth frames.  Jordan would get up and throw a good shot but leave the four-pin.  He would convert the spare and strike on the fill to win the match with a score of 247.

Going into the Finals we would see all three bowlers looking to win the first-place prize of $1,500.00!  This payout amount is usually what we pay for one of our Major tournaments (Memorial or Labor Day weekends) but thanks to the high turnout for this event someone was going to leave very happy.  Tim Eichhorn was the only #1 seed to make it through to the Finals and Tim was looking at winning his first AHT SFT title since recently moving to the Valley.  Tim had come in third place at Glenfair back in January and was looking to improve on that performance.  Jordan Weeston was making his first Finals appearance and was also looking at winning his first title as well.  Hokey Begay was looking to take advantage of his first Finals appearance in a while and add his third AHT SFT title to his resume.

The Finals would start off with Tim crushing the pocket for a strike.  Jordan and Hokey would both miss the 1-2-4-8, chopping the spare on both sides.  Tim would continue to strike in the second and third frames and was looking at making up and handicap difference that he was giving Jordan and Hokey.  Both Jordan and Hokey would strike in the second frame and they would get spares in the third.  In the fourth frame, Jordan and Hokey would both open with Hokey missing a four-pin while Jordan would miss on the 1-3-9.  Tim would leave a seven-pin in his fourth frame and convert the spare to maintain his slight lead.

Midway through the match and Tim would leave the 6-8 split in the fifth. Giving the others a chance to catch up as he wasn’t able to convert the spare.  Hokey wouldn’t take advantage as he would chop the 3-6-9 in his fifth frame and Jordan would go Brooklyn for a strike.  Jordan would continue to ride his hot streak as he was able to strike in the sixth and seventh frames.  Hokey would pick up a couple on ten-pin spares in the sixth and seventh to try to stay in the match.  Tim would get strikes in the sixth and seventh but would open in the eighth as he would chop the bucket (3-5-6-9).  Jordan would also open in the eighth as he couldn’t convert on his 1-3-6-9 spare attempt.  Hokey would strike in the eight and would set things up for another nail-biter of a finish in the ninth and tenth frames.

The ninth frame would see Tim leave a ten-pin, which he would convert, while Hokey would strike for a double to set himself up.  Jordan would leave the 1-3-9 and would be able to convert the spare leaving all three bowlers within a few pins of each other going into the tenth frame.  Hokey would be up first needing to double to seal up his third title.  Hokey’s first ball would hit light in the pocket but would get a mixer 7-pin kick out late for his first strike.  His second ball in the tenth would go high in the pocket as it would leave the 5-7 split!  He couldn’t convert the spare attempt and would go on to finish up the match with a score of 214.  Up next would-be Tim and his first ball would hit the pocket late but trip out the 7-pin for a strike.  Tim’s second ball in the tenth would look the same for another strike.  Tim’s fill ball would crush the pocket but wouldn’t carry the 7-pin to finish at 224.  Jordan would finish up the match needing to get a double and good count to win the match.  Jordan’s first ball in the tenth would crossover for a Brooklyn strike!  Jordan’s second ball in the tenth would miss left as he would crossover but leave the 1-3-5.  Jordan wouldn’t convert the spare but finish up with a score of 215!

This would give Tim Eichhorn his first AHT SFT title and $1,500.00!  Jordan Weeston would take second place by one (1) pin for $850.00 and Hokey Begay would finish up in third place for $550.00!!!  Also, with Tim winning this tournament he would jump to 1st place in the 2022 Winter Quarterly Circuit!

Thank you to everyone that came out this weekend to support this event.  It was an amazing turnout, and we hope to continue it at our next event at AMF Chandler on Sunday, April 3rd.  This will be the start of the 2022 Spring Quarterly Circuit, so we hope to see you all there!!!

FINALS - Tim Eichhorn vs. Hokey Begay vs. Jordan Weeston