Our event this weekend was at Bowlero Kyrene and we would have a great turnout. We had 111 total entries (90 qualifying and 21 economy parlays) for 3 squads, with 30 prize winners and a 1 in 3.7 cash ratio, paying out over $7,400 in main and side event prize funds. The players bowled on the 42ft PBA Scorpion oil pattern that played pretty tough to start. The pattern has an out of bounds if you get your ball a bit too far towards the gutter too early, then your ball would not make it back to the pocket. There looked like there was enough of a built-in track that the bowlers were able to overcome it. We would see some higher scores as they day moved on as the oil pattern started to break down in the later squads. As the scores increased in the later squads it would take about +60 to qualify for the quarterfinals with bowlers needing to bowl 10-15 pins over their average per game to advance.
We want to welcome Avery Thumper, Marc Bakunowski, Josh Knox, Trevor Dugan, Anthony Candelaria, and Max Hernandez to the SFT AHT family! We hope you all had a good time in your first SFT AHT event. Congrats to Antonio De La Fuente, Nate Prince, Aaron Bell and Ken Hall for making their first quarterfinals or their first in quite a while! Also, congrats to Aaron Bell and Nate Prince for being our Economy Parlay Power players this weekend. They both were able to turn their $30.00 Economy Parlay investment into a Quarterfinals check with Nate having a chance to win it all, but more on that below. Congrats to Mike Hodge for winning Momma’s Mystery Pot, with a score of 227, for $296.00! Your winner of the drawing for the free plastic ball, with the option to upgrade to any high-performance Track ball for $95.00, was Scott Agnew!
Since this was a 3-squad tournament, there would be a re-oil before the quarterfinals. The pattern seemed to play more in line with previous tournaments as we would see scores shoot through the roof and with the standings being tight. With 23 quarterfinalist, at least 8 bowlers in each Division, we would cut to the Top 2 in the A Division, while the B & C Divisions would cut to the Top 3.
The A Division would see Garret Strehl (+106) emerge as the #1 seed and he would have to face off against Kyler Adams (+48). The B Division would have Kenny “Powers” Koen (+102) as the #1 seed, and he would take on Payton Steele (+78) and David Roppel (+26). The C Division #1 seed was Kaitlyn Davis (+103), and she would meet up with against Alex Olson (+63) and Parlay Power Player Nate Prince (+51).
The A Division semi-final match would go back and forth between Garret and Kyler to start. Garret would struggle to carry while Kyler would get red hot on the pair. Kyler would go on to defeat Garret, 275 to 228, to punch his ticket to the Finals. The B Division semi-final would have all three bowlers struggle a bit to start out. Kenny and Payton would struggle with the pair while David would get lined up and start stringing strikes. David would go on to win the match as he would put a score of 265. Payton would come in second in the Division as he just got by Kenny, 195 to 189.
The C Division semi-final match would see a very close match. All three bowlers would struggle a bit on the pair but they would stay within arms reach of each other for most of the match. It would all come down to the tenth frame. Kaitlyn would finish up with a score of 201, which would put some pressure on Alex and Nate to mark and get count. Nate would get for the tenth frame and would mark and strike on his fill shot to finish with a score of 208. Alex would be up next and would mark and would need nine to tie for a roll-off or get a strike to win the match. Alex would see his ball look good off his hand but it would go a bit high leaving the 6-10 for an 8-count to finish with a score of 207. This would give Nate the win and he would move on to the Finals.
Going into the Finals we would see all three bowlers looking to take home their first AHT SFT title along with the $1,300.00 first place prize. Nate Prince was making his very first Finals as he was looking to turn his $30.00 Economy Parlay entry into $1,300.00! Nate just joined us at the end of last season and has been working on his game. It looked like his hard work was finally paying off with this Finals appearance. David Roppel just returned to bowling recently after taking a few years off and looked to be back on track as he was making the Finals in only his 3rd SFT tournament! The favorite of the match had to be Kyler Adams. Kyler was making his third Finals appearance this season as he had come up in second place in the previous Finals. Kyler had a good look for most of the day and today seemed like it was the day to break out for his first SFT title!
The Finals would start off with David and Kyler striking while Nate would miss his spare for an open frame. David would follow up with a pocket 7-10 split, which he would not covert for an open frame. Kyler would double up with another strike while Nate would miss his spare conversion. Third frame would have David get back on track with a strike while Kyler would continue striking. Nate would finish up with a spare conversion. David’s fourth frame would see him adjust his line to double up with a strike. Kyler would strike for a four-bagger while Nate would hit the pocket hit to leave the 4-7, which he would not convert. Fifth frame and it looked like David found his line for his third strike in a row. Kyler would keep pace with another strike to remain perfect in the match. Nate would finish up the fifth frame with a split (3-6-7), which he would convert!
Midway through the Finals and it would be neck and neck between Kyler and David. David would continue his string of strikes for four in a row. Kyler would get up and get his ball go a hair too long for a 2-pin, which he would not convert for an open frame. Nate would get his first strike of the match. Seventh frame would see David continue to strike as Kyler would also strike to keep pace. Nate would get nine and spare to close out the frame. David’s eighth frame would see him almost leave the “Ocho-Diaz” (8-10 split) but the 8-pin would fall late. David would go on to make the spare. Kyler would double up with a strike while Nate would do the same. Ninth frame would see David set his tenth frame up with a strike. Kyler would look to do the same but see his ball hit a bit high and leave the 4-pin. Kyler would go on to convert the spare. Nate’s ninth frame would see him pull the ball a bit but he would pick up the spare.
It would come down to the tenth frame as David would leave a mixer 7-pin on his first ball. David would pick up the spare and again leave a mixer 7-pin on his fill ball to finish with a score of 254. This would give Kyler a chance to tie if he could get all three strikes in the tenth. Kyler’s first ball would look good off his hand but would take off and go high though the nose to leave the 3-6-10, which he would spare. Kyler would finish off the match with a strike to finish with a score of 241. Nate would close out the match with an open frame for a score of 207. This would give David Roppel his first AHT SFT title and $1,300.00! Also, congrats to Kyler on second place for $800.00 and also congrats to Nate Prince on third place for $400.00!
Thank you to everyone that came out this weekend to bowl our tournament. Thanks to Jay Jay Newell and the staff at Bowlero Kyrene for having us out this weekend. Also, thanks to Michael Dragon and Josh Molloy on all the hard work they do to keep us going each event. We’ll be back next Sunday for an Early Bird 2-squad tournament at AMF McRay.
Hope you all have a great week!
Bowlero Kyrene Finals - Kyler Adams vs. David Roppel vs. Nate Prince
