This weekend we had a 2-squad tournament at AMF McRay. We had a great turnout with 86 total entries (61 qualifying entries and 25 economy parlays entries). We had 24 cashers, a 1 in 3.58 cash ratio and paid out over $5,200.00 in main event and side event prize funds. The players bowled on the 48ft PBA Shark oil pattern that is a longer pattern in length but does not have a lot of volume in the middle. This creates a bit of an odd transition as the lanes start to “dry out” in the front and middle parts of the lane which forces bowlers to move deeper quickly. However, with most patterns you can still get the ball out towards to outside part of the lane and hook it back but with this pattern if you get it too far outside too early it would hit the out of bounds and not come back. This would result in some lower scores to start with scores increasing in the second squad. Bowlers would need average 10-15 pins over their tournament average each game to get to around +60 to +50 to advance to the quarterfinals.
We had a few new bowlers join us this weekend and we want to give a warm welcome to Michael Agnew, Corrie Lyke, Julia Velasquez, Kevin Dillingham, and Marcus White, who all bowled in their first event this weekend. We hope you all had a good time and look forward to seeing you at our next event. Congrats to Jeremy Lorenzo for being this weekend’s only Parlay Power Player. Jeremy was able to qualify for the quarterfinals off his $30.00 economy parlay investment! Also, congrats to Marcus White on winning Momma’s Mystery Pot, with a score of 147, for $208.00! We would’ve had another winner for $500.00, unfortunately they did not buy into the Momma’s Mystery Pot! Your winner of the free plastic ball raffle, with an option to upgrade to any Track high-performance ball for $95.00, was Shaun Newman.
Since this was a 2-squad tournament, we would move directly into the Quarterfinals with no re-oil. We would have 19 bowlers advancing to the quarterfinals from the qualifying squads. With our 1 in 3 cut ratio, from the quarterfinals to the semi-finals, we would cut to the Top 2 bowlers in all three Divisions after 3 games. We would see scores continue to climb and it would come down to the last game of the Quarterfinals to determine our Semi-Finalists.
The A Division would see Grand Canyon University (GCU) bowler Drew Merrell (+115) emerge as the #1 seed and he would have to face off against #2 seed David Roppel (+102). The B Division would have your current SFT veteran Kenny Koen (+67) as the #1 seed, and he would take on Antonio De La Fuente (+7). The C Division would be current Senior Player of the Year points leader Darwin Hicks (+96) as the #1 seed, and he would be up against Ricky Salazar (+88).
The A Division Semi-Finals would feature two talented bowlers in Drew Merrell and David Roppel. They would both go back and forth to start but Drew could not keep up with David as he would pull away to win the match, 245 to 173. The B Division Semi-Final match would see Kenny Koen and Antonio De La Fuente looking to figure out the pair in the first few frames. Kenny and Antonio would go back and forth for most of the match and it would come down to the tenth frame. Kenny would get a much needed to strike to win the match, 221 to 208, to advance to the Finals.
The C Division Semis would see another close match between Darwin Hicks and Ricky Salazar. It would be close for most of the match with neither bowl being able to pull away in the match. It would come down to the last frame as Ricky would fill out his frame to defeat Darwin, 212 to 201.
Going into the Finals we would see two of the three bowlers looking to take home their first AHT SFT title. Kenny Koen was making his 2nd Finals appearance this season as he was looking to improve on his third-place finish at Let it Roll Bowl in August. Ricky Salazar was also looking to take him his first title as he was making his second Finals appearance with his best previous finish being third place at Cotton Bowl Lanes last season. Standing in their way was David Roppel. David was looking to win back-to-back titles as he just won his first title last weekend at Bowlero Kyrene for $1,300! David was looking to add to that total if he could pull off another win with today’s first place prize set at $900.00! A win today would put David in the driver’s seat of the Fall Quarterly Circuit Points Race with only 2 more tournaments to go!
The Finals would start off with Ricky and Kenny missing spares while David would capitalize with a strike to make up the handicap difference he was giving them. David would leave a four pin in the second frame, which he would spare while Kenny would mark and Ricky would open with a split. Third frame would see Ricky mark as David and Kenny would strike. Fourth frame would see David chop the 2-5 for an open frame while Kenny would double up with a strike and Ricky would miss a 6-pin for an open frame. Fifth frame and Ricky would mark to lead off. David would see his ball go a bit too far out and would leave the 1-2-8-10, which he would not convert. Kenny would see his ball hit a bit flat as he would leave the 4-7, which he would pick up.
Just over halfway through the match and Kenny would have a slight lead. David would lead off the sixth frame with a much-needed strike. Kenny would leave the 6-10, but was able to pick it up to remain in the lead. Ricky would mark but needed to get some strikes to get back into the match. Seventh frame would see Ricky leave a flat 10-pin, which he would spare. David would see his ball go a bit outside again but only leave the 1-2-8, which he would spare. Kenny would strike in the seventh to stay in the lead. Eighth frame and David would leave a flat 10-pin, which he would spare. Kenny would see his ball go “Brooklyn” and leave a 6-pin, which he would miss to leave the door open for David. Ricky would finish off the eighth frame with a mark. Ninth frame and Ricky would leave the baby split (3-10), which he would not convert. David would get a much-needed strike to stay in the match and Kenny would strike to set up his tenth frame.
It would all come down to the final frame as David would be up first needing to strike out to force Kenny to mark and get good count. David’s first ball would miss a bit in and leave the 3-6-9-10, which he would spare. David would strike on his fill ball to finish with a score of 198. Kenny would be up next needing a mark to win. Kenny’s first ball would hit a bit late leaving the 4-7, but he would spare it and strike on his fill ball to finish with a score of 211. Ricky would finish up needing all three in the tenth to have a chance. Ricky’s first shot would be his first strike of the match. Ricky’s next shot would hit a bit high in the pocket leaving the 6-10, which he would spare for a score of 189. This would give Kenny his 1st AHT SFT title and the $900.00 first place prize. Congrats to David Roppel on second place for $400.00. Also, congrats to Ricky Salazar on third place for $300.00!
Thank you to everyone that came out this weekend to bowl our event. Thanks to Rebecca Deane and the staff at AMF McRay for having us out and providing us with great service. Also, thanks to Josh Molloy and Kevin Robertson for helping out today!
We will see you all a couple of weeks for our 3-Squad Standard tournament on Sunday, November 17th at AMF Chandler Lanes!
AMF McRay Finals - David Roppel vs. Kenny Koen vs. Ricky Salazar
