We had our 2nd event of the 2023 season this weekend at Bowlero Kyrene and we had another great turnout! We would see 161 total entries (123 qualifying and 38 economy parlays) with 40 cashers, a 1 in 4 cash ratio and paid out over $10,000.00 in main and side event prize funds. The players bowled on a squirrely 35ft PBA Cheetah pattern that played a bit longer than the previous versions that was laid out. Also, the center had updated some of their lanes since our last event here. There was a difference in how to attack the pattern, but those that found success were able to play up the gutter and get their ball to roll correctly through the pins. The average cut score was a bit higher as shorter pattern’s scores are usually on the high side.
We want to welcome Nathan Sellers, Allan Kudlock, James Neish, Ming Shih, and Jeff Kraus to the SFT AHT family! We hope you all had a good time in your first SFT AHT event and hope we see you back at our future events. Congrats to Matthew Woodhall, Amarr Bryant, Eric Flick and Eddie Thompson on being this weekend’s Parlay Power Players! Both of these bowlers took their $30 investment and turned it into a quarterfinals check! Also, congrats to Horace Paul for making his first quarterfinals and congrats to Ming Shih for making his first quarterfinals in his first ever event! We would see Scott Perkins win the Momma’s Mystery Pot, with a score of 166, for $365.00! Your winner of the free plastic bowling ball, with an option to upgrade to any Track high performance ball for $85.00, was James Neish!
The quarterfinals would be bowled on the fresh oil pattern and the scores showed as we would see scores more in line with the 1st squad of the tournament. With the bigger turnout, we would cut to the Top 3 in all three Divisions. Picking up spares was the key as it would come down to the final few frames to see who would advance to Semi-Final round.
The A Division would see Corey Poyner (+54) and he would have to face off against Carlos Vejar (+52) and Dylan Taylor (+52). The B Division had Amarr Bryant (+150) emerge as the #1 seed overall and he would take on Shawna Strause (+67) and Dishawn Byrd (+61). The C Division #1 seed would be Kenny Koen (+119) and he would be up against Steve Sanderson (+52) and Chip Carr (+12).
The A Division semi-final would see Corey Poyner continue his hot streak as he would do enough to win the match with a score of 233. Dylan Taylor would come in second place, in the Division, with a score of 199 and Carlos would end up in third place with a score of 187. The B Division would be a shoot out with the #1 overall seed, Amarr Bryant, and former SFT Female Player of the Year Shawna Strause. It would come down to the tenth frame as Shawna would get just enough to win with a score of 245. Amarr would finish in second place, in the Division, with a score of 237. Dishawn would struggle on this pair and finish in third place with a score of 173. The C Division semi-final would be another nailbiter as all three bowlers would have shot at winning the match going into the final two frames. Kenny Koen would squeak out the with win with a score of 205. Steve Sanderson would come in second place with a score of 198 and Chip Carr would finish in third place with a score of 191.
Going into the Finals we would have some great storylines. Kenny Koen was looking for his first title and he was just returning from having spinal fusion surgery back in September. So, for him to come back and being able to make his first Finals in his second tournament back was amazing to see. Shawna Strause was also looking to get her first win and if you didn’t know, Shawna drives up regularly from Tucson to compete in our events and is a multiple time SFT Female Player of the Year. Shawna was long overdue for win and had just knocked off the #1 overall seed to get here. Corey Poyner was making his first Finals and was also looking for his first title as well. Unfortunately for Corey, he was not in the progressive pot. That would mean that wherever he finished in the Finals, the progressive pot payout would be redistributed to everyone that made the quarterfinals who were in the progressive pot. First place was projected to pay $1,400.00, so you know who became the favorite among the bowlers remaining to watch the Finals.
The Finals would start off with Shawna absolutely on fire! Shawna would strike in the 5 of the first 6 frames to jump out to a huge lead. Kenny and Corey would struggle with the pair, and it looked like it was a match to see who would win second place. It would come down to the tenth frame between Kenny and Corey. Corey would fill out the tenth frame to finish at 199. This would force Kenny to mark to tie or a mark and any count to pass Corey for second place. Kenny would get a bit out on his first shot and leave a very tough 1-2-8. Kenny’s spare attempt would be good, and he would get nine on his fill to finish at 209. Shawna would continue to keep her lead by staying clean and would close out the match with a huge 233 scratch game for a score of 263 with handicap! This would give her, her first AHT SFT title and $1,500 first place prize! Congrats to Kenny Koen on 2nd place for $900.00 and also congrats to Corey Poyner on 3rd place for $275.00!
Thank you to everyone that came out today to bowl! Also, thank you to Jay Jay Newell and Jodi Bach for hosting us and also thank to the staff at Bowlero Kyrene for the great service! A huge thank you to Michael Dragon and Tyler Andersen for continuing to step in for Tawna McDonald and helping run today’s event!
We hope to see you all next Sunday for our early bird 2-squad tournament at Glenfair Lanes! Hope you all have great week and we’ll see you soon!
FINALS - Corey Poyner vs. Shawna Strause vs. Kenny Koen
