Strike Force Tour News Courtesy Of SFT.
Mesa - - - This weekend’s event was our 3-Day Labor Day Major at Bowlero Mesa. August 31. September 1 and 2. This is the first time that we have been back to this center for our Labor Day Major since 2020. We would see 279 total entries with 207 qualifying and 72 parlay entries this weekend. We can’t thank the bowling community enough for all the help in making this such a successful event. The event had 75 cashers, a 1 in 3.72 cash ratio and paid out over $21,500.00 in main and side event prize funds. The players bowled on a 43ft Stars & Stripes oil pattern (2024 USBC Master’s oil pattern) that proved to be very playable but also very tough if you were bowling in the wrong area. It seemed that some bowlers matched up well and others not as well. It would put a premium on avoiding splits and picking up spares. The scores were pretty much on par with bowlers only needing to average about 10 pins above average per game to make the cut. The scores were a bit higher on Saturday, but it seemed that with each strip and re-oil, the pattern would even out, with cut scores remaining about the same for all three days.
We had 10 new bowlers come out and try the event for the first time! We would like to welcome Nathaniel Darnell, Izak Dunn, Lawrence Seger, Benjamin O’Neal, Joseph O’Neal, Stacey Pollard, Robert Richardson, Richard Perez, David Roppel, and Harold Moran to the SFT Family. It’s always great to see new bowlers and we had some that came from New Mexico and California this weekend! We hope you all have a good time and thank you all for coming out and trying out our event. Congrats to Joseph O’Neal, David Roppel, and Richard Perez for making it to the quarterfinals in their very first event! We also would like to congratulate this weekend’s Parlay Power Players in Nathan Tidball, Lordan Ferguson, Curtis Spence, Jericho Gaydos, Kaitlyn Davis, Shawn Grant, and Kevin Robertson. All of these bowlers made it to the quarterfinals off their $30.00 Economy Parlay entry and all had a chance to turn that into the $1,700.00 first place prize.
We’d also like to congratulate Cameron Downing, Harper Schmidt, Carl Ong, Marisol Quinones, Shane Gomez, Sergio Hilburn, Nathan Tidball, Dion Lockett, Arthur Lara, James Strang, Chris Reyes, Shawn Wood, Kevin Dollar, Chip Carr, Kevin Duong, Michael Arce, Alex Olson, and Shawn Grant! All these bowlers were making their first quarterfinals or their first quarterfinals in quite a while.
We would see a few people win Momma’s Mystery Pot this weekend! We had a couple of people that were not in the Momma’s pot that had their number drawn this weekend, so it pays to put in the extra $5. Congrats to Shaun Newman (212) who would win a whopping $125.00 on Saturday to start off the weekend. Also, congrats to Ricky Salazar (166) who would end Saturday with a big win of $500.00! On Sunday we would see Kevin Duong (135) win a pot of $220.00! On Monday we would see Reggie Elliott (157) win $400.00 and on the last squad of the day we would see Brian Richardson (198) take home $500.00! We also had our Labor Day Mega Raffle, which featured more prizes than usual tournaments, and here are you mega raffle winners:
Free Track Ball of Choice
- Joseph O’Neal
Free Plastic Ball w/option to upgrade to Track Ball of Choice for $95.00
- Carl Ong
- Darwin Hicks
Free Main Entry ($55 value)
- Kenny Koen
- Richard Perez
Free Progressive Pot ($25 value)
- Wayne Tipler
- Eric Flick
Free Economy Parlay ($30 value)
- Darwin Hicks
- Darwin Hicks
Free Strikeforce Towel ($5 value)
- Chip Carr
- Wayne Tipler
- Stacie Huglin
The Quarterfinals was a big one with 55 bowlers on the floor. The pattern was re-oiled before the start of the quarterfinals and it showed, as the scores to advance past the quarterfinals would be about 10 pins per game over average to advance.
The cut ratio to advance from the quarterfinals into the first Semi-Final round was 1 in 3. So, with at least 18 bowlers in all three Divisions, they would be cutting to the Top 6 in each Division. The first Division Semi-Final matches would see three Division Semi-Finalists bowling on one pair, with the Top score on each pair advancing to the second Semi-Final match. The winner of the second Semi-Final match would go onto meet the other Divisional winners for your Labor Day Step Ladder Finals.
In the A Division, your #1 seed was Kyle Ponzo (+92), #2 Justin O’Donnell (+49), #3 Nathan Tidball (+37), #4 Dylan Taylor (+30), #5 Tim Harris (+22) and #6 seed was Charlie Price (+21). Your #1 & #2 seeds had to the option to pick which lanes the semi-final match was on and the choice of the order in which the bowlers would bowl the match. The 1st Semi-Final match up would see #5 seed Tim Harris (195) upset #1 seed Kyle Ponzo (189) as Kyle would miss a spare in the tenth and Nathan Tidball would finish up fifth in the Division with a score of 184. The other Semi-Final match would see another upset as #6 seed Charlie Price (202) would get lined up to defeat Dylan Taylor (193) and Justin O’Donnell (160) to advance. This would set up your A Division Finals match between #5Tim Harris and #6 Charlie Price.
In the B Division, we would have Brian Richardson (+70) as your #1 seed, #2 Charles Halse (+42), #3 Mike Rhoads (+41), #4 Ken W. Davis (+37), #5 Richard Perez (+30) and #6 seed Cameron Downing (+30). We would see Mike Rhoads (250) runaway with the match as he would put up a huge score to eliminate #1 Brian Richardson (215) and Richard Perez (197). In the other Semi-Final match we would see #2 seed Charles Halse (187) squeak by Cameron Downing (181) and Ken W. Davis (166). This would set up our B Division Finals #3 Mike Rhoads vs. #2 seed Charles Halse.
In the C Division, the #1 seed would be Kaitlyn Davis (+51), #2 Marisol Quinones (+38), #3 Kaylene Almy (+30), #4 Darwin Hicks (+9), #5 Joseph O’Neal (-1) and #6 seed Darin Jackson (-5). It seems that there was a theme to the Semi-Finals as we would again see the #3 seed get hot as Kaylene (198) would do enough to defeat Kaitlyn Davis (185) and Joseph O’Neal (162) to advance to the next round. The other C Division Semi-Final match would be a bit higher scoring as Darin Jackson (222) would post his highest game of the day to eliminate Marisol Quinones (204) and Darwin Hicks (199) to secure a spot in the next round. This would set up the C Division Finals #3 seed Kaylene Almy taking on #6 seed Darin Jackson.
The Division Final matches are always fun to watch. When over 200+ entries come down to the Top 6 bowlers, there is always some pressure in the atmosphere. The A Division Finals would see Charlie Price runaway with the match as he would get lined up and string some strikes. Tim Harris would struggle on the pair as he would finish up the match with a score of 154. Charlie would finish with a score of 225 to move on the Step Ladder Finals. The B Division Finals would be another rout as the current points leader of the Player of the Year race, Mike Rhoads, would put up a huge game of 271 to secure the #1 seed in the Step Ladder Finals. Charles Halse would try to keep up with Mike as he would finish with a score of 209. The C Division Finals would go back and forth throughout the match between Kaylene Almy and Darin Jackson. Darin would finish up with a score of 193, while Kaylene would get a couple of timely strikes to win the match with a score of 208 to secure her spot in the Step Ladder Finals.
For our Finals in our Majors, Memorial and Labor Day, we use a different Finals format. For this event we would be using the Step Ladder format where all three bowlers would be seeded based on their semi-final’s totals. This would make the #1 seed Mike Rhoads (+71), #2 seed would be Charlie Price (+25) and the #3 seed would be Kaylene Almy (+8). Charlie and Kaylene would have to face off in the first step ladder match with the winner going on to face Mike in the Championship Finals. This would mean that Mike Rhoads would be guaranteed at least $925.00 second place prize with first place being $1,700.00!
Going into the Labor Day Step Ladder Finals we would see Mike and Kaylene looking to win their first AHT SFT Major title which would be Kaylene’s first overall title. Mike Rhoads was looking to win his second title of the season and extend his lead in the SFT Player of the Year points race. Charlie Price would have to be the favorite as he would be looking to win his 4th SFT Major title and 8th overall title. So, it looked like he would be tough to knock off and overall, it looked like it would be a great Step Ladder Finals.
The first step ladder match would feature #2 seed Charlie Price taking on #3 seed Kaylene Almy. This match would go back and forth with both bowlers unable to string any strikes together. It looked like it would come down to whomever would make a mistake and who would capitalize on it. Charlie would stay clean until about halfway through the match, but would split in the fifth leaving the “Baby” split (3-10) that he could not convert and would miss a single pin spare in the next frame. Kaylene would remain clean for most of the match and go on to defeat Charlie, 228 to 171. Charlie would finish in third place and take home $625.00 for his efforts.
We would move into the Championship match between #1 seed Mike Rhoads and #3 seed Kaylene Almy. Mike would start off hot as he would spare and double in the second and third frames. Kaylene would answer back as she would strike and spare in the first and second frames, then go on to double in the third and fourth frames. Mike would try to keep up with Kaylene but would miss a single pin spare in the fourth frame. Fifth frame for Mike would see him chop the 2-8 spare for another open frame. Kaylene would see some transition in the fifth frame as well as she would leave the 1-2-8, but she would pick up the spare.
Midway through the match and it was close. Kaylene would strike in the sixth to take the lead. Mike would try to make up his open frames with his own strike in the sixth, but would leave a weak 10-pin in the seventh, which he would spare. Kaylene’s seventh frame would see her miss a bit right and leave the 1-2-4-10, which she would convert. Kaylene would spare in the eighth as she moved closer to winning the match. Mike would go “Brooklyn” in his eighth frame but leave the 9-pin which he would miss for another open frame. Kaylene would finish up with a score of 253 as Mike would finish up at 196. This would give Kaylene her first AHT SFT Major title for her first overall SFT title and $1,700.00! Congrats to Mike Rhoads for coming in second place and taking home $925.00 for his efforts this weekend.
Thank you to everyone that came out this weekend to support our Major tournament! Also, a BIG thank you to Tiffani Werden and the staff at Bowlero Mesa for hosting our tournament and providing us with great service all weekend! Also, a special thank you to Michael Dragon and Tawna McDonald for all their hard work this weekend and keeping us on track with scores and brackets. I honestly couldn’t do it without all their help.
We are going to be off for next week as the NFL season starts. Hope you all have a great week and enjoy some football next weekend! We will be back on Sunday, September 15th at Bowlero Via Linda for a 2-squad tournament! Hope to see you there!