Our event this weekend was at AMF Mesa lanes and we had a good turnout for our 2 squad event! We kicked off the 2021 Summer circuit with 95 total entries (59 qualifying and 36 parlays), 25 cashers, and 1 in 3.8 cash ratio and paid out over $4,400.00 in main and side event prize funds! The players bowled on a 32ft PBA Wolf oil pattern that was very demanding. The key for success was to make spares as most bowlers were able to advance to the quarterfinals by shooting their average. This put a premium on spare shooting. The oil pattern saw a lot of friction on the first squad and if you could just leave something makeable, then you were good. As the day wore on, we saw the oil move from down the lanes due to all the urethane being used and scores increased for the second squad of the day.
We would like to welcome Andrea Haley, Jordan Weeston, Neiko McCullough, Robert Ditz and Tyler Rasmussen 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 Logan Spencer and Jack Haines! They both made it to the quarterfinals off of their $25 Economy Parlay entry! We also want to congratulate Jeremy Smith, Daniel Capps, Aaron Mendoza, Scott Cook and Jack Sarvis for making their first quarterfinals or their first quarterfinals in quite a while. We did not anyone win the Momma’s Mystery Pot, so we have 2 pots of $500.00 and another at $100.00 that will roll over to next weekend at AMF Chandler. Your winner of the free plastic ball raffle, with an option to upgrade to any Track high performance ball for $85.00, was Tyler Rasmussen.
Since this event was only 2 squads, there was no re-oil before the quarterfinals. This resulted in some very low scores with the standings being very, very tight as bowlers needed to bowl at least one good game to make the cut. It seemed like most of semi-finalists would be determined by the final game of the quarterfinals. With our 1 in 3 cut ratio from the quarterfinals to the semi-final round, we would cut to the Top 2 in each Division. The A Division would see Aaron Stein (+125) emerge as your #1 seed and he would have to face off against William Standefer (+14). The B Division would see Aaron Mendoza (+10) come out on top and he would take on Ron McDonald (-38). The C Division would have newcomer Scott Cook (-8) square off rising youth bowler Harper Schmidt (-16) in the semi-finals.
Aaron Mendoza would be the only #1 seed to advance as we would see the other #1 seeds were unable to take advantage of the lane selections that they had made. William Standefer would upset Aaron Stein in the A Division semi-final throwing a clutch three bagger to win 199 to 171. The B Division would see Aaron Mendoza was able to make some timely spares as Ron McDonald would miss the transition and Aaron was able to win the match, 193 to 163. The C Division would be closer as Scott Cook and Harper Schmidt would go back and forth throughout the match. It would come down to the ninth and tenth frames as Scott would open in the ninth and tenth while Harper was able to strike in the ninth and get good count in the tenth to win the match, 210 to 185.
Going into the Finals we would see William Standefer and Aaron Mendoza both making their first Finals and also looking for their 1st AHT SFT title. Harper Schmidt was looking to add another title as he had previously won at Glenfair last October. The first place prize was projected at $900.00, but we wouldn’t know for certain as Will was not in the progressive pot, so the prize fund would not be finalized until after the match was completed. It would seem that each division winner had a chance to win the match and it would be the one that could make spares and stay out of trouble that would come out on top.
The Final match would see all three bowlers come out trying to get lined up quickly. Both Harper and Will would strike in the first, but open with a split in the second. Aaron would come out nine spare in the first, but would miss a 5 pin spare in the second frame to keep everything evened up. Harper would spare the third frame but then open again in the fourth. Aaron would strike in the third to try and make up for the open in the 2nd and would seem to back on track. William would make spares in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth frames to get a small lead. Harper would make his spares in the fifth, sixth and seventh frames to keep pace as Aaron would strike in the fifth, spare in the sixth, but open in the seventh chopping the 2-4-5. William would strike in the seventh frame and spare in the eighth to continue with his lead. Harper looked to be getting lined up as he would strike in the eighth frame, but would miss the 6-10 spare in the ninth frame to give Will the lead. Aaron would look to get back into the match with a strike in the ninth. Will would get up and strike in the tenth and nine-open to finish at 208. Aaron would need to double in the tenth to get by Will, but his shot would go a bit long and leave the bucket (2-4-5-8). Aaron would go on to chop his spare attempt leaving the 5 pin to finish at 185. Harper would finish out the tenth with a strike and 5-spare for 196; this would give William Standefer his 1st AHT SFT title and $450.00 first place prize. Congrats to Harper Schmidt on 2nd place and Aaron Mendoza for 3rd place.
Thank you to everyone that came out this weekend to kick off the 2021 Summer Circuit. We will see you all next Sunday at AMF Chandler on July 25th. Hope you all have a great week!
FINALS - William Standefer vs. Aaron Mendoza vs. Harper Schmidt
