Our event this weekend was at Bowlero Christown, and we would see a great turnout considering all the other events going on. We had 87 total entries (63 qualifying and 24 economy parlays) for this 2-squad event, with a cash ratio of 1 in 3.1 and paying out over $5,000.00 in main and side event prize funds. The players bowled on the 37ft PBA Bat pattern, that is a new PBA pattern and we’ve never bowled on. This pattern is a bit different in the fact that it is short and looked to play like the old PBA Cheetah pattern. This center usually has a lot of friction on the lanes which causes the ball to hook early, so you have to move left but keep it right and play the ditch. Pair to pair would see a lot of transition depending on who you were following. The average cut to make it to the quarterfinals was just a bit over even, which meant that you just had to maintain your average to move on. The key this weekend was definitely to leave something makeable and pick up your spares!
We had some new bowlers join us for their first event this weekend. We would like to welcome Julia Kuersten and Kevin Hanna to the SFT family. We hope you all had a fun time and look forward to seeing you at our next event. We had a few Parlay Power Players this weekend in Zach Van Dusen, Michael Lemos, and Edward Polansky, who all would make it to the quarterfinals off their $30.00 economy parlay entry. Congrats to Caden Ament, Bobby Steele, Daniel Tullar and Edward Polansky, for making it to the quarterfinals for the first time or their first time in quite a while. Also, congrats to Justin Surat and Kevin Todd for winning Momma’s Mystery Pot. Justin would win $25.00, with a score of 183, at the 9:00 AM squad, while Kevin Todd would win a bit more, $120.00, with a score of 143! Your winner of the free plastic ball raffle, with an option to upgrade to any Track high performance bowling ball for $95.00, was Marisol Quinones.
Since this event was only 2 squads there would be no re-oil before the quarterfinals. We would have 21 quarterfinalists with all of the Divisions having 7 bowlers. With our 1 in 3 cut ratio, from the quarterfinals to the semi-final round, we would cut to the Top 2 bowlers in each Division. Your leader in the A Division would be Zach Van Dusen (+152) who would face off against Dylan Taylor (+121). The B Division would see Jeff Kraus (+80) take on David Roppel (+7). The C Division #1 seed would be Bobby Steele (+118) versus Arthur Lara (+49).
The A Division Semi-Final would be a back-and-forth match between Zach and Dylan with it all coming down to the ninth and tenth frames. Dylan would 10-pin in the ninth and pick up the spare. Zach would be up off a double and would strike in the ninth. Dylan would need a couple of strikes in order to put pressure on Zach to do the same. Dylan would again leave a mixer 7-pin, which he would pick up and then get nine on the fill shot to finish with a score of 222. Zach would need a mark to win the match. Zach’s first ball in the tenth would go high through the nose for a 4 count as he would leave the 3-4-6-7-9-10. Zach would get 3 off the split conversion attempt and finish with a score of 219 to give Dylan the win and a spot in the Finals.
The B Division Semi-Final round match would not be as close as Jeff Kraus would get lined up quickly while David Roppel would struggle with the pair. Jeff would go on to defeat David, 239 to 208, to earn his spot in the Finals.
The C Division Semi-Final match would a nail biter with everything coming down to the tenth frame. It would Bobby Steele, whom was making his first quarterfinals and his very first Semi-Finals, taking on SFT rookie Arthur Lara. Bobby and Arthur would go back and forth throughout the match as each could not pull away from each other. It would come down to the tenth frame as Arthur would get just enough to defeat Bobby, 229 to 216.
Going into our Finals it looked like our current SFT Player of the Year, Jeff Kraus, had a good look on the pair and would be tough to beat. Jeff made his way into the Finals off an exemption that he was awarded as our current Player of the Year. Arthur Lara was making his very first Finals and looking to get his hands on his first title. Arthur also was looking to take the lead in the current season’s Rookie of the Year points race. Standing in their way was a former SFT Player of the Year, Dylan Taylor. Dylan was looking to take home his eighth SFT title and the $700.00 first place prize.
The Finals would start off with all three bowlers looking to get lined up quickly. Jeff would start off with a strike while Dylan and Arthur would make spares. Jeff would start to struggle with the lanes and fall behind Dylan and Arthur. Arthur would also struggle with carry midway through the match. Dylan would get lined up and would continue to grind throughout the match. Dylan would finish with a score of 216 to win his eighth AHT SFT title and $700.00 first place prize. Arthur would finish in second place with a score of 201 for $350.00 and the SFT Rookie of the Year lead, while Jeff would finish in third place with a score of 178 for $250.00!
Thank you to everyone who came out this weekend to make this event a success. Also, a BIG thank you to Aris Barraza and the staff at Bowlero Christown for the excellent job and customer service! Also, thanks to Michael Dragon and Kevin Robertson for the help this weekend.
We will see you all in two weeks at Bowlero Kyrene!
Hope you all have a wonderful week, and we’ll see you soon!
Bowlero Christown Finals - Dylan Taylor vs. Jeff Kraus vs. Arthur Lara
