Our event this weekend was at Mesa East Bowl and we had a special early bird 2-squad event. We had a really good turnout for our earlier squad times with 89 total entries (59 qualifying and 30 economy parlays). We had 28 cashers, a 1 in 3.41 cash ratio and paid out over $5,200.00 in main and side event prize funds. The players bowled on the 38ft Alcatraz oil pattern that saw some higher scores on the fresh oil, but as the day went on the pattern would get tighter and tighter. It was a medium pattern where bowlers were able to play a variety of angles on the pattern and those that could strike a couple of strikes here and there would do pretty good. Our cut scores were all around the even mark with some even making with a slight negative score, which meant that if you just had to bowl close to your average to qualify.
We had some new bowlers join us for their first event this weekend. We’d like to welcome Jesse Harrison, Michael LePage, Jim Cote and Kent Heinle to the SFT family. We hope you all had a good time and look forward to seeing you at our next event. We would have only one Parlay Power Player this weekend in Richard Kasting, Jr., who would make it to the quarterfinals off his $25.00 economy parlay entry. Congrats to Rosine Marchske, Cole Durand, Richard Kasting, Jr., Nick Edinger and Kevin Todd for making it to the quarterfinals for the first time or their first time in quite a while. Also congrats to Brandon Loss for winning Momma’s Mystery Pot, with a score of 191, for $500.00! There was another bowler with the same score, but unfortunately they were not in the Momma’s Pot. Your winner of the free plastic ball raffle, with an option to upgrade to any Track high performance bowling ball for $85.00, was Peyton Lee.
Since this event was only 2 squads there would be no re-oil before the quarterfinals. This resulted in some low scores with the standings being very tight. It seemed like it would come down to the last game in the quarterfinals to determine who would be our semi-finalists. Since we had 20 quarterfinalists, then we would cut to the Top 2 in each Division. The A Division would see Jason Lowery (+42) come out as your #1 seed and he would take on Parlay Power Player Richard Kasting, Jr. (+35). The B Division would have #1 seed Quinten Bell (+87) facing off with Steve Marks (+67). The C Division would see Ken Nelson (+51) as the #1 seed versus #2 seed and newcomer Josh Wamsley (+44).
The A Division semi-final match would be a close match as Jason Lowery and Richard Kasting, Jr., would go back and forth throughout the match. It would come down to the ninth and tenth frames to determine the winner. Junior would open in the ninth as Jason would strike to even up the match. Junior would strike in the tenth, but would leave the bucket (2-4-5-8) on his second shot. Junior would chop his spare attempt and would finish the match at 201. Jason would get up needing a strike on his first ball in the tenth plus good count on his fill ball to advance. Jason would calmly shoot his first shot and would put all ten back and would get nine-spare on the fill to win the match, 210 to 201.
The B Division would see Steve Marks catch fire while Quentin Bell would struggle with lane transition on the pair. Steve would go on to defeat Quentin, 246 to 201. The C Division semi-final would be an all-lefty affair as Ken Nelson would struggle while Josh Wamsley would continue his hot streak to win the match, 264 to 201. I’m not sure if or when we had a semi-final round where all the bowlers that did not advance all had the same score of 201.
Going into the Finals we would see all three bowlers looking at winning their first AHT SFT title. Jason Lowery was not in the progressive pot, so we wouldn’t be able to post the first-place prize amount until we knew where he finished at. If you didn’t already know, the progressive pot prize fund is paid out 100% to everyone that qualified for the quarterfinals that bought into the progressive pot. So, the higher that Jason finished, then there would be a little extra in everyone else’s check. So, Jason would have an extra couple of bowlers rooting him on to win the tournament. Steve Marks had a great look all day and was looking to capitalize on his run today. Josh Wamsley was making his very first finals in only his second tournament. He bowled his first event last weekend at AMF McRay and made it to the semi-final round, but came up a bit short.
The Finals would start off with all three bowlers opening as they would try to figure out the pair. Jason Lowery would double in the second and third frames to try and make up the handicap difference that he was spotting Steve and Josh. Steve would open again in the second frame, but then would put it together striking in the third and fourth frames to make up for his two open frames. Josh would strike in the second and spare in the third, fourth and fifth frames as he would stay clean to take the lead with his handicap. Midway through the match and it looked like Josh would be tough to beat. Steve would nine-spare in the fifth, but would catch fire and ring off three strikes in a row to take the lead. Josh would struggle with the pair and open in the sixth, seventh and eighth frames. Jason would try to get back into the match, but could not carry the pocket as he would nine-spare in the sixth, seventh and eighth frames. Going into the ninth frame Josh would open and Jason would strike in the ninth. Steve would go seven-spare in the ninth and would washout in the tenth, leaving the 1-2-10, which he wouldn’t convert.
This would be enough for Steve as he would win the match with a score of 215 and his first AHT SFT title. We would have to wait for 2nd place as it would come down to the tenth between Josh and Jason. Jason would get and fill out the tenth with nine-spare and nine to finish at 191. Josh would need a strike in the first frame of the tenth to have a chance to pass Jason. Josh’s first ball in the tenth would go high and cross over for seven, which Josh would pick up and he would fill out the tenth for 184 which would give him 3rd place. Congrats to Steve Marks for the win and also to Jason Lowery and Josh Wamsley!
Thank you to everyone that came this weekend for our early event. Reminder that there are only two events left in the 2021 season and the points race is looking like it’s going to come down to these last two events! We’ll be back on Sunday, November 28th at Bowlero Via Linda for another 2-squad standard event.
Hope you all have great weekend and a Happy Thanksgiving!
FINALS - Jason Lowery vs. Steve Marks vs. Josh Wamsley
