This weekend’s event was at AMF Tempe Village and we had a good turnout for our 3-squad event. We had 100 total entries (70 qualifying and 30 economy parlay), 28 cashers a 1 in 3.6 cash ratio and paid out over $7,000.00 in main and side event prize funds. The bowlers bowled on the 36ft PBA Viper oil pattern that was very difficult on the fresh, but seemed to breakdown and allow for some higher scoring as the day went on. The cut went up as the day went on and bowlers would need to get to around +60 in order to advance to the quarterfinals.
As always, we like to welcome the bowlers who bowled their first event with us this weekend. Orshawante Bryant and Jamie Gabriel were both came out to give us a try and we’d like to welcome you both to the SFT AHT family! Hope to you all had a great time and hope to see you all again! We would like to congratulate this weekend’s Parlay Power Players in Aaron Stein, Logan Spencer and Daniel Bhella. They all made the quarterfinals today off their initial $25.00 parlay entry. We’d also like to congratulate a few bowlers that made their first quarterfinals or their first quarterfinals in a while in Daniel Bhella, Garret Stehl, Chris Allen and Dave Nelson. Also, congrats to Garret Strehl for shooting a 300 game on his 2nd game in his qualifying round. Garret has been working on his game is catching up quickly to his dad, Chris Strehl.
We had not one, not two, but three Momma’s Mystery Pot winners this weekend. Curtis Spence won the Momma’s Mystery Pot after the first squad for $500.00 with a 170 game. We would see Dylan Taylor and Kevin Convirs both win with a 214 game in the last squad of the day. Since they both were tied with the same score, they spilt the $500.00 pot for $250.00 each. Your winner of the free plastic ball raffle, with the option to upgrade to any Track high-performance ball for $85.00, was Sandra Pennington.
The quarterfinals were bowled on the fresh oil pattern. We had 22 quarterfinalists, with each Division having at least 7 bowlers, so with our 1 in 3 cut ratio the Top 2 bowlers in each Division would advance to the Semi-final round. In the A Division, your #1 seed would be 2020 SFT Rookie of the Year Josh Williams (+109) and he would take on Chad Summers (+94). The B Division #1 seed was Parlay Power Player Aaron Stein (+183) and he would face off with Garret Strehl (+113). The C Division was led by Parlay Power Player Logan Spencer (+86) and he would meet #2 seed Robert Smith, Jr. (+13) who was looking at trying to make the Finals in back-to-back tournaments. All three semi-final matches would see the same pin difference of 1-pin, making these semi-finals almost a scratch match between the bowlers.
The A Division semi-final match would see Chad get out to an early lead while Josh would struggle with carry. A gutter-spare in the third frame from Chad would be the only trouble he would have on the pair as he would go ahead and win the match 268 to 203. The B Division match would be a close one with both Garret and Aaron going back and forth for most of the game. It would all come down to the tenth frame as Garret would get up first and strike on all three balls to finish out the match at 212. This would force Aaron to have to strike on his first ball in the tenth and get five pins on the fill in order to win the match. Aaron would get up and throw his first ball which would go a bit high in the pocket, but kick out the ten-pin for a strike. Aaron’s 2nd shot would go Brooklyn leaving the five-pin, which he would spare, to win the match with a score of 217. The C Division match would be a close one with Logan and Robert trading off the lead throughout the match. It would all come down to the tenth as Robert would double to make up for an open in the eighth frame and get nine on his fill shot to finish at 216. Logan would need to fill out his tenth and his first shot would hit the pocket but leave a blower 7-pin. Logan’s spare attempt would hang on just enough to pick up the 7-pin and he would strike on the fill to win the match with a 224.
Going into the Finals we would see not one, but two Parlay Power Players in Aaron Stein and Logan Spencer. Both Aaron and Logan were trying to turn their $25 economy parlay into the $1,050 first place prize. Chad Summers was looking at getting his 1st AHT SFT title and had come in 2nd place in his previous Finals appearance. Aaron Stein was also looking for his first title and this was his first time making a Finals. Aaron had made the semi-finals a couple of times before but had been unable to get past that round and was looking to take advantage of this opportunity. Logan was looking at getting his hands on his fourth title and had been bowling good all day.
The Finals would start with Chad striking in the first two frames and would be looking at trying to make up some of the handicap difference that he was giving Aaron and Logan. We would see Aaron would nine-spare and then double in the second and the third frame. Logan would stay clean and make his spares in his first few frames. Midway through the match and it looked like Chad was going to run away with this match as he would go nine-spare in the third then throw a three-bagger in the fourth, fifth and sixth frames. Aaron would nine-spare in the fourth and then leave the 2-8-10 split in the fifth. He wouldn’t get any count on his spare attempt putting him in third place after five frames. Logan would see his ball would go into the gutter in the fifth frame, but he was able to pick up his spare. Logan would strike in the sixth, but then would open in the seventh after missing his single pin spare. Chad would see a bit of transition as he would leave a fast 7-pin in the seventh and go a bit high leaving the 6-10 in the eighth. He would pick up both spares to maintain a slim lead over Logan and Aaron. Aaron would make a move in the sixth frame which would result in a crushing strike. Aaron would keep that momentum by striking in the seventh, eighth and ninth to put pressure on Chad and Logan. Logan would open in the ninth frame to even up the match between all three bowlers.
The Finals would all come down to the tenth frame as Logan would finish up by getting all three strikes to finish out the match at 215. Chad would be up next and would need to strike on his first ball in order to force Aaron to do the same. Chad’s first ball in the tenth looked good off his hand, but would leave a wrap ten-pin. Chad would pick up his spare and then strike on the fill to finish the match at 234. Aaron would get up needing to mark and get good count. Aaron would pull his shot in the tenth, but it would go Brooklyn and get enough to only leave a 5-pin. Aaron would go on to pick the spare and then get nine on his fill to finish at 249 which would give him his first AHT SFT title and $1,050.00!!! Congrats to Chad for 2nd place and $600.00 and also congrats to Logan for 3rd place and $400.00.
Thank you to everyone that came out to bowl our event. Also, I would like to thank Jon Mayer, Guy Pennington and Hokey Begay for stepping in and filling in for Tawna this weekend. I don’t think anyone truly understands how much work Tawna does at each tournament to get everyone checked-in and all the side action (brackets) processed and paid out at each event.
We’ll see you all in two weeks for our 3-day Memorial Day Major at Bowlero Glendale. Make sure you check out our website, aht.strikeforcetour.com, for more information. Have a great week and see you all soon!
FINALS - Chad Summers vs. Aaron Stein vs. Logan Spencer
