Our event this weekend was at Bowlero Kyrene and it would kick off the start of the 2021 Fall Quarterly Circuit. Our season points race, to determine our Player of the Year, is also broken into quarterly circuits with prizes awarded for the Top 4 bowlers in each quarter. We had a lite turnout considering there were three other events going on throughout the Valley and especially with the AZ Cardinals starting off so hot this year. We had 71 total entries (38 qualifying & 33 economy parlay) for 3 squads, with 21 prize winners and a 1 in 3.38 cash ratio. We paid out over $3,600 in main and side event prize funds. The players bowled on a pattern we don’t use often that is a tough one to get used to. The PBA pattern Badger that is 52 foot in length. This is the longest oil pattern used in competitive play and “hooking” your ball into the pocket isn’t really an option at the beginning. You have to get used to your ball fading back high flush until they start to break down a little bit. The big difference throughout the day was spares and with so much oil on the lane it was hard to “hook” at spare attempts that you would normally be able to convert.
We want to welcome Austin Collings, Stephen Haanpaa and Emily Frerichs to the SFT AHT family! We hope you guys all had a good time in your first SFT AHT event and hope we see you back at our future events. Congrats to Josh Williams, Sean Harris and Logan Spencer on being this weekend’s Parlay Power Players! All three bowlers took their $25 investment and turned it into a quarterfinals check! Also, congrats to Dennis Stevens, Tyler Andersen, Mackenzie Ickes and Sean Harris for making their first quarterfinals or who were returning to the quarterfinals in a while. Your winner of the free plastic bowling ball, with an option to upgrade to any Track high performance ball for $85, was Horace Paul!
The quarterfinals were bowled on fresh conditions and the scores were low, but those that made it to the next round were able to figure out the pattern and pick up their spares. We had 15 quarterfinalists and with our 1 in 3 cut ratio, we would cut to the top bowler in each Division. It looked like it would come down to the last game of the quarterfinals to determine each Division winner. Chris Tucker would catch fire to run away with the A Division at +107 and looked like the person to beat. The B Division would see Bryton Bobbitt score well enough to get by Jason Lowery at +58. The C Division would be close with Tyler Andersen throwing a huge 238 scratch game to squeeze by Parlay Power Player Sean Harris by 10 pins at +100.
Going into the Finals we would see Chris Tucker looking at getting his hands on his 3rd AHT SFT title. Bryton Bobbitt was looking to win his first title in his fifth Finals appearance. Bryton had made the Finals the last time we were at Bowlero Kyrene and was looking at improving on his previous performance. Tyler Andersen would also be looking for his first title in his first title match and looked like he might have found the ball reaction that he was looking for all day.
The Finals would start off with each bowler pretty much lined up on the pair and it would seem like whoever could carry the pocket would have an advantage. Bryton and Tyler would both hit the pocket, but each would leave single pin spares that they would pick up. Chris would crush the pocket on his first ball and looked like he was going to be tough to beat. Tyler would then go on to string the next four strikes in a row as he would jump out to an early lead. Chris would try to stay with Tyler by also striking in three of his first four frames. Bryton would stay clean picking up his spares through the first four frames, but would get hot in the fifth frame as he would strike and then go on to strike in the sixth and seventh frames to get himself back into the match.
Halfway through the match and it seemed like all three bowlers were making this tough pattern look easy. Tyler would get single pin spares in the sixth and seventh that he was able to convert. Chris would also leave single pin spares in the fifth and sixth that he would pick up. Going into the final few frames of the match Bryton would open in the eighth by missing a 4-pin. Tyler would strike in the eighth and ninth to put pressure on Chris to do the same. Chris would answer back by striking in the seventh, eighth and ninth frames to give himself a chance in the tenth if Tyler were to open. Bryton would get up first to finish the tenth as he was able to double and get nine to finish at 238. Tyler would be up next needing a mark and good count to shut out Chris. Tyler would strike in the tenth and eight spare to finish at an impressive 289 (246 scratch) to win his first AHT SFT title and $600.00! Chris would finish in 2nd place by striking out in the tenth to finish at 268 (248 scratch). This Final match was probably one of our highest scoring matches that we’ve had in quite a while, with all three competitors making it look very easy!
Thank you for everyone that came out this weekend to support the event. We hope to see you all this coming Saturday at Mesa East Bowl for our standard 2-squad event!
FINALS - Chris Tucker vs. Bryton Bobbitt vs. Tyler Andersen
