Our event this weekend was at AMF Mesa, and we had another good turnout for our 2-squad event! We would see 114 total entries (83 qualifying and 31 parlays), 32 cashers, 1 in 3.56 cash ratio and paid out over $7,100.00 in main and side event prize funds! The players bowled on the 40ft 2010 USBC Senior Master’s oil pattern that was very misleading. Many of the bowlers would think that since there was more oil volume that it would play like a house shot, but with all the oil on the outside of the lanes it made it very hard to swing the ball. Because the pattern was flat in the middle and heavy on the outside of the lane. Bowlers had to make their shots or the ball out sail or crossover on each shot if you missed in or a bit outside. The cut scores were low with bowlers only needing to bowl a little over their average to advance to the quarterfinal round. The main key was to leave makeable spares and pick them up.
We would like to welcome Rob Olson, Susan Meinhardt, Jazmyn Meinhardt, David Lawrence, Ben Laffoon, Franklin Edwards, Elias Gutierrez, Alex Olson, Hannah Baumgarten, Danielle Hurley, Dustin Hurley, Zach Van Dusen, and Curtis Simpson to the SFT family. We hope that you all had a good time and hope to see you again. We also had some Parlay Power Players in Josh Molloy, Ryan John, and Sean Molloy! They all made it to the quarterfinals off their $30.00 Economy Parlay entry with Ryan having a chance at making it to the Finals! We also want to congratulate Hannah Baumgarten, Scott Sparks, Susan Meinhardt, and Ted McKay for making their first quarterfinals or their first quarterfinals in quite a while. We would have a Momma’s Mystery Pot winner in Peter Trofimuk, with a score of 178, for $500.00. Your winner of the free plastic ball raffle, with an option to upgrade to any Track high performance ball for $85.00, was Dale Stanbridge.
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, very tight. It would all come down to the third and final game of the quarterfinals to determine our semi-finalists. We would have 25 quarterfinalists and with our 1 in 3 cut ratio from the quarterfinals to the semi-final round, we would cut to the Top 2 in the A & B Divisions while the C Division would cut to the Top 3. The A Division would see Brian Richardson (+71) emerge as your #1 seed and he would have to face off with Parlay Power Player Ryan John (+33). The B Division would have Reggie Elliott (+105) as the #1 seed, and he would take on Myles Hamilton (+63). The C Division would see #1 seed Lan Macy (+37) versus Ted McKay (+20) and James Strang (+14).
The A Division semi-final match would be close between Brian Richardson and Ryan John. Ryan would struggle to start the match but would get lined up towards the end of the match. Going into the ninth and tenth frames he would get a three bagger and nine to finish with a score of 216, which would force Brian to mark and get good count to win the match. Brian would be coming off a spare in the ninth and his first ball in the tenth would leave a flat ten pin. Brian would pick up the spare and then washout to get seven on his fill ball to win the match with a score of 224.
The B Division would start off with Reggie and Myles trying to get lined up as quickly as they could. Myles would open in the first and second frames to fall behind early in the match and would never be able to recover. Reggie would get a couple of timely strikes to stretch the lead as Myles could not buy a strike. Myles would finish with a score of 192 as Reggie would win the match with a score of 219 to advance to the Finals.
The C Division semi-final would be a low scoring match as all three bowlers would struggle on the pair. Lan Macy would open early and fall behind in the match. It would go back and forth with Ted and James for a few frames, but James would put together a three bagger to take the lead midway through the match. James would open in the eight and ninth frames to leave the door open for Lan or Ted to get back into the match, but they could not capitalize on it. James would go on the win the match with a score of 230. Ted would come in second, in the Division, with a score of 214. Lan would finish in third, in the Division, with a score of 188.
The Finals would see all three bowlers looking to add another title under their belts and the $1,150.00 first place prize. Brian Richardson was looking to win his fourth AHT SFT title and had been bowling well for most of the day. Brian had already cleaned up in brackets and now was looking to add to his winnings. Reggie was looking for the second title and had been on fire for most of the day as he had been putting up some good scores. James was also looking for his second title and was just coming off a fifth-place finish in the True Amateur Tournament (TAT) in Las Vegas the week before for $5,000! Now he was looking to add some more this weekend.
James Strang would start off the match with a with a nine-spare while Reggie would follow up with a nine-spare as well. Brian would continue to run well as he would start off the first frame with a strike. James would be up in the second frame and would strike to take the lead with his handicap. Reggie and Brian would also strike to keep pace with James. The third frame would see James continue to strike as he would kick out the nine-pin late. Reggie’s third frame would see his ball hit a bit of carry down as he would miss the head pin right, leaving the 1-2-8-10 and was unable to pick up the spare. Brian also would see the carry down as his ball would sail a bit outside and take out the 3-4-6-10, leaving him the 1-2-3-5-7 to spare. Brian’s spare attempt would get everything except the 7-pin as he and Reggie would fall behind James in the match. James’ shot in the fourth frame would hit the pocket light leaving the 4-pin and he would miss his spare attempt to let Reggie and Brian have a chance to catch up. Reggie’s fourth frame would see him find the pocket for a crushing strike while Brian’s shot in the fourth would hang a bit leaving the 2-5. Brian would go on to pick up the spare to stay in the match. Fifth frame would see James leave the 6-10 which he would pick up to stay in the lead. Reggie’s shot in the fifth would go a bit high through the nose to leave the 3-6, which he would spare. Brian again would miss a bit outside leaving the 1-2-4 and would go on to convert the spare.
Midway through the match and James would have a lead of about 30 pins. He would leave a flat ten pin in the sixth frame but would miss the spare as his ball would hook just inside to miss the spare. Reggie would leave the stone 8-pin in the sixth and go on to pick the spare. Brian’s sixth frame would see him move a bit right and his ball would go a bit high in the pocket leaving a difficult 3-9-10 split. Brian would chop the 3-9 and leave the 10-pin for an open to drop him into third place. James’ seventh frame would see him split as well as he would leave the 5-7 which he could not convert for an open frame. Reggie’s seventh frame would complete the trifecta of splits as he would leave the 4-6-7. Reggie would pick off the 4-6 for an open frame. Brian would finish the seventh frame with a washout (1-2-4-10) and would barely pick up the spare as the head pin would knock over the 10-pin late. Eighth frame would see James leave the 6-10 and he would pick up the spare to give himself a slight lead. Reggie would move way left on his shot in the eighth frame and it would pay off with a much-needed strike. Brian would be up next and move further right which would read the lane correctly for a strike. Going into the ninth frame James would hit the pocket light and leave the bucket (2-4-5-8) which he would spare. Reggie would be in front of the ball return on the ninth frame and would get his ball to hook enough for another strike to give himself a chance going into the tenth frame. Brian’s move would also pay off as well as he would get a Brooklyn strike for a double to keep himself in the match.
It would all come down to the tenth frame as James would be up first. James would come up a bit light leaving the 1-2 and would pick up his spare. James would get eight on his fill ball to finish with a score of 209. Reggie would be up next needing to strike to catch James. Reggie’s first ball in the tenth would hit a bit light but mix enough pins for a strike. Reggie’s second shot in the tenth would read the lane perfectly for another strike. Reggie’s fill ball would leave a flat 10-pin for a score of 225. All the pressure now was on Brian as he would need to double and get count to win. Brian’s first shot in the tenth would crush the pocket for strike. Brian’s second shot in the tenth would go high through the nose leaving him the 4-6-7 split. Brian would pick up the 7-pin only to finish with a score of 215. This would give Reggie Elliott his 2nd AHT SFT title and $1,150.00!!! Congrats to Brian Richardson on second place and $620.00. Also, congrats to James Strang on third place and $320.00!
Thank you to everyone that came out this weekend to bowl our tournament. We appreciate the continued support from you and the bowling community. Thank you to Kathleen Weissmann and the staff at AMF Mesa for hosting us this weekend. A big thank you to Hokey Begay and Michael Dragon for helping out today in place of Tawna, so we can keep these tournaments running.
We’ll be back on Sunday, July 30th for another 2-squad tournament at Bowlero Via Linda! Hope you all have a great week and stay cool! We’ll see you all in a couple of weeks!!!
AMF Mesa Finals - Brian Richardson vs. Reggie Elliott vs. James Strang
