Our event this weekend was at AMF Chandler lanes! We had a great turnout with 111 entries (66 qualifying entries and 45 economy parlay), 28 cashers, a 1 in 3.96 cash ratio and paid out over $5,700.00 in main and side event prize funds. The players bowled on the old 35ft PBA Cheetah oil pattern that provided higher cut scores than usual. Cheetah tends to be one of the easiest sport patterns, as it allows players to get some free hook on the gutter which is similar to the house shot. However, it is still a sport pattern, and isn't a walk in the park. There isn't a lot of oil in the middle of the lane, like a house shot, so you have to get it to the outside friction or the ball will run high in the pocket.
We had some new bowlers that came out this weekend to try our event. We’d like to welcome Austin Hockett, Charles Adams, Gissele Adams, Jesse Konek and Jeffrey Buttery. We hope you guys had a good time at your first event and we look forward to seeing you at the next one! Also, congrats to this weekend’s Parlay Power Players in Eric Flick and Eddie Thompson who both made it to the Finals off their initial $25.00 Economy Parlay entry, but more on that in a bit. We’d also like to congratulate Michael Dominik, Daniel Capps, Ron Schloss, Marcus Haley and David Burns for making either their first quarterfinals or their first in quite a while! We would also see Momma’s Mystery Score won with a score of 196 for $500.00, with both Geoff Garrow and Josh Anthony splitting the pot. Your winner of the free plastic ball raffle, with an option to upgrade to any Track ball for $85.00, was Brian Waugh.
The quarterfinals were bowled on the fresh oil pattern. We had 19 quarterfinalists, with the C Division having 7 bowlers and the A & B Divisions having 6 bowlers. The cut ratio from the quarterfinals to the semi-finals is 1 in 3, so that meant we would cut to the Top 2 bowlers in each Division. With the re-oil the pattern played a bit truer and scores would take off with some of the highest scores of the day. Eddie Thompson would have a chance at 300 in his 3rd game of the quarterfinals. He would go a bit high on his last shot to get to 298 and lock up a spot in the semi-final round.
In the A Division, your #1 seed would be Brian Waugh (+152) and he would take on Parlay Power Player Eric Flick (+143). The C Division #1 seed was the other Parlay Power Player Eddie Thompson (+220) and he would face off with newcomer Marcus Haley (+155). The B Division was led by Ron McDonald (+154), but he would have to wait as we would see a tie for the #2 seed. Both Ron Schloss and Thomas (Buddy) Darnell finished at +114, with Thomas almost picking up a big 2-10 split to get by Ron. This would mean we would go to a ninth and tenth frame roll-off.
The roll-off would start with Buddy Darnell striking in his ninth frame. Ron Schloss would get up and throw his first shot a bit wide hitting high in the pocket leaving an ugly 3-6-4-7 split. Ron would get up and swing the ball to hit the 3-pin which would take out the 4-7 to pick up the spare! Ron would finish out the tenth frame by punching out all three strikes to finish at 52, with handicap. This would mean that Buddy would need to at least double to win the match. Buddy’s first shot would crush the pocket and his second shot would hit the pocket light leaving the 8-10 split to finish the match at 48.16.
The A Division semi-final would go back and forth with Brian and Eric trying to figure out the pair. The deciding factor would be a missed ten-pin by Brian in the seventh frame. Brian would finish at 215 while Eric would punch out in the tenth to win with a score of 243. The C Division semi-final would also go back and forth between red-hot Eddie Thompson and newcomer Marcus Haley. Marcus would give Eddie a good run, but just come up a bit short. A spare in the ninth would put Marcus just behind as Eddie would punch out in the ninth and tenth to win the match 277 to 258.
The B Division semi-final would be a real nail-biter as we would see Ron vs. Ron come down to the ninth and tenth frame. Ron Schloss was looking good through most of the match, but a bit of lane transition late in the match would even things up. Ron McDonald would strikeout in the eight, ninth and tenth frames to catch and finish at 238. This would mean that Ron Schloss would need all three in the tenth to win or a double and nine would mean a tie and another roll-off. Ron Schloss’ first ball would look good off his hand, but would come up a bit high leaving the 3-6 and giving Ron McDonald the win, 238 to 217.
Going into the Final match, we would see probably the most title between all three competitors that we have seen in quite a while. Eric Flick was looking to get his hands on his fourth title while Ron McDonald was looking at getting his fifth title and Eddie Thompson was looking for his third title. Both Eric and Eddie had made it all the way to the Finals off their $25.00 Economy Parlay entry and were both looking at turning that into the $1,000.00 first place prize!
The Finals would start off with all three bowlers struggling to get lined up on the pair. Eddie would split or open in three of the first four frames while Eric and Ron would look to take advantage of making up the handicap difference. Ron would struggle as well going spare, open, open and spare in the first four frames. Halfway through the match, Eric looked like he would cruise to the win as the only lefty on the pair and not seeing the transition as much as the two righties. Eric would throw a three bagger in the fourth, fifth and sixth frames to take a controlling lead. Eric would leave the lefty Greek Church in the seventh (4-6-7-8-10) which he was unable to convert. Eddie looked to be lined up as he would strike in the fifth and sixth frames to try to catch back up. Ron would spare in the fifth and strike in the sixth as he looked to get himself back in the match, but unfortunately, he would split (6-7-10) in the seventh to put him back in the hole.
Going into the final couple frames it looked like it would come down to parlay power players Eddie and Eric. Eddie would strike in the eighth and ninth frames to put pressure on Eric. Eric would chop the 3-6-9 in the eight and nine-spare in the ninth to fall behind Eddie. Eric would finish the tenth first getting to 196. Eddie would be next and continue to stay on fire, punching out to win the match with a 241 and giving him his 3rd AHT SFT title and $1,000.00!!! Ron would finish up the match with a chance to pass Eric, but would spare out to finish in third place at 188.
Thank you to everyone that came out this weekend! We will see you all next Sunday at Glenfair lanes for our standard 3-squad event! Hope you all have a great week!
FINALS - Eric Flick vs. Ron McDonald vs. Eddie Thompson
