SFT News And Photo - Courtesy Of SFT.
Scottsdale - - - We were at Bowlero Via Linda on March 26, for our last event of the 2023 Winter Quarterly Circuit (January to March). We had another huge turnout for our 2-squad event! We would see 117 total entries (86 qualifying and 31 parlays), 32 cashers, 1 in 3.65 cash ratio and paid out over $6,500.00 in main and side event prize funds! The players bowled on a 38ft PBA Mike Aulby oil pattern that we have previously used at this center. Many of the bowlers would think that since there was more oil volume that it would play like a house shot, but with all the oil in the front of the lanes it made it extremely hard to swing the ball in the earlier squads. Because the pattern was not very long or short, it allowed players to attack it from all angles. The cut scores were pretty low after the first squad, but as they pattern started to break down in the second squad the cut scores would increase with bowlers only needing to bowl about ten pins over their average to advance to the quarterfinal round. The main key was to leave makeable spares.
We would like to welcome Joe Stallone, Jamison Storoschuck, Thomas Sahotsky, Rayden Hughes, and Thomas Verbil to the SFT family. We hope that you all had an enjoyable time and hope to see you again. We also had some Parlay Power Players in Eddie Thompson and Mary Sturm! They both made it to the quarterfinals off their $30 Economy Parlay entry with Eddie even making it all the way to the Finals! We also want to congratulate Bobby Steele and Joshua Vossler for making their first quarterfinals or their first quarterfinals in quite a while. We would not have any Momma’s Mystery Pot winners, so that pot will build up for our next event. Your winner of the free plastic ball raffle, with an option to upgrade to any Track high performance ball for $85.00, was Peyton Lee.
Since this event was only two squads, there was no re-oil before the quarterfinals. This resulted in some medium to high scores with the standings being pretty tight. It would all come down to the third and final game of the quarterfinals to determine our semi-finalists. We would have 26 quarterfinalists and with our 1 in 3 cut ratio from the quarterfinals to the semi-final round, we would cut to the Top 3 in the B & C Division and would cut to the Top 2 in the A Division.
The A Division would see Chris Allen (+103) emerge as your #1 seed and he would have to face off with Josh Williams (+87). The B Division would have Josh Perry (+143) as the #1 seed, and he would take on Audie Atkins (+52) and Alex Benton (+38). The C Division would see #1 seed Darwin Hicks (+103) versus Joshua Vossler (+65) and Parlay Power Player Eddie Thompson (+34).
The A Division semi-final match would start off as a close one between Chris Allen and Josh Williams. About midway through the match Chris would get lined up and start stringing strikes while Josh would struggle with transition. Chris would go on to win the match 245 to 186.
The B Division would start off with all three bowlers looking like they were lined up. It would come down to the ninth and tenth frames as it turned to a shoot-out between Audie Atkins and Josh Perry. Alex Benton would try to keep pace but would struggle to carry and finish in third place in the Division with a score of 203. Josh Perry would finish first and would continue to strike as he would finish with a score of 276. Audie would have a chance to tie it up but would come up short to finish in second with a score of 244.
The C Division semi-final would be a nail biter between Joshua Vossler and Eddie Thompson. Darwin Hicks would struggle on the pair that he selected and would finish the match in third place with a score of 196. It would come down to the tenth frame to determine who would face the other Division winners in the Finals. Joshua would finish the match first as he held a slight lead going into the tenth frame. Joshua’s first ball would go high in the pocket leaving the 6-10. Joshua’s spare attempt would just miss the 6-pin to leave an open and he would finish with a score of 231. Eddie would be up next needing to mark and get good count to win the match. Eddie’s first ball in the tenth would also go high in the pocket and leave the 6-10. Eddie would convert the spare and then strike on the fill to win the match with a score of 235!
The Finals would see Parlay Power Player Eddie Thompson looking to turn his $30.00 Economy Parlay entry into $1,100.00 first place prize! Eddie was also trying to add to his fourth title to his AHT SFT title count. Chris Allen was also looking to win his third AHT SFT title and had been bowling well all day. The favorite going into the Finals had to be Josh Perry. Josh had been on fire in the Quarterfinals and in his Semi-Final match. He was making his first Finals match and was looking to get the win for his first AHT SFT title.
The Finals would start off with all three bowlers striking in the first frame. The handicap difference would be only seventeen pins between all three bowlers, so it looked like it would be a great match up. Chris Allen would continue to stay hot as he would strike in the second and third frames to make up the handicap difference. Josh Perry would open in the second frame as he would chop the 2-4-5, leaving the 2-pin. Josh would leave a 10-pin in the third, which he would convert, to fall into slightly behind. Eddie Thompson would mark in the second and strike in the third to stay with Chris. The fourth frame we would see Chris pull his shot a hair and it would go high through the pocket leaving the 3-6. Chris would spare and strike in the fifth to maintain his slight lead. Josh would hit the pocket light in the fourth leaving a 2-pin, which he would convert. In the fifth frame Josh would get a strike to try and stay up with Chris and Eddie. Eddie would continue to stay clean and mark in the fourth and fifth frames.
Midway through the match and it would be a close one. Chris would lead off the sixth frame with a split as his ball would go high through the pocket leaving the 3-4-7-10. It would look like things were going Chris’s way as he would convert the split sending the 3-pin into the 4-7 as it took out the 10-pin. Josh would double up on his shot and was looking to get back into the match. Eddie would mark as he would pick up the 10-pin spare in the sixth. Chris would double up in the seventh and eighth frames to continue to push his lead. Josh could not keep up as he would eight-spare in the seventh and eighth frames. Eddie would strike in the seventh but chop the 3-6-10 in the eighth. Going into the ninth frame it looked like Chris had the match wrapped up as he would continue to strike. Eddie would open as he was unable to convert the 1-2-7-10. Josh would mark in the ninth frame while Chris would finish the match with a mark and strike in the tenth frame to finish at 254 for the win.
It looked like it would come down to the tenth frame to determine where Eddie and Josh would finish and the $250.00 difference between second and third place. Josh would be up first and would leave the 3-6-10 on his first shot. Josh would convert the spare and then get a seven count on his fill ball for a score of 213. Eddie would need to at least double in the tenth to jump into second place. Eddie’s first shot in the tenth would hit the pocket flush for ten straight back. Eddie’s second shot would be the same as he would double and would strike again on his fill shot to pass Josh with a score of 217. Congrats to Chris Allen for his third AHT SFT title and $1,100.00! Also, congrats to Eddie Thompson on second place for $650.00 and Josh Perry on third place for $400.00!
Thank you to everyone that came out and bowled this weekend’s tournament. Also thank you to Michael Bray and the staff at Bowlero Via Linda for hosting us and giving us great customer service. Another big thank you to Tawna McDonald and Michael Dragon for working the event and keeping everything running smooth this weekend. The Winter Quarterly Circuit winners will be announced once the season points have been finalized later next week. We hope to see you all at Let it Roll Bowl on Sunday, April 16th as we kick off the 2023 Spring Quarterly Circuit.
Have a nice break and see you all soon!
****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
Mesa - - - Our event this weekend, was March 12, at AMF Mesa. And we had a pretty good turnout considering there were other events going on throughout the Valley. We had 102 total entries (75 qualifying & 27 economy parlay) for 2 squads, with 30 prize winners and a 1 in 3.4 cash ratio. We paid out over $5,600 in main and side event prize funds. The players bowled on a pattern we do not 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 is not 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 Charles Valenzuela, CJ Valenzuela, and Frank Meyer 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 Brandon Loss on being this weekend’s Parlay Power Players! Brandon took his $30.00 investment and turned it into a semi-finals check! Also, congrats to Micah Coleman, Albert Gonzalez, Robert Sanders, CJ Sturgess, Alex Benton and Gordon Barker for making their first quarterfinals or who were returning to the quarterfinals in a while. CJ Sturgess would win Momma’s Mystery Pot, for $470.00, with a score of 162. Your winner of the free plastic bowling ball, with an option to upgrade to any Track high performance ball for $85, was Kevin Duong!
Since this was a 2-squad tournament we would not re-oil for the quarterfinals. This resulted in a few higher scores with the oil pattern breaking down forcing bowlers to make spares and stay clean to advance. We would see some tight scores and it would all come down to the third and final game of the quarterfinals to determine who would move on to the Semi-Final round. We would have 24 quarterfinalists and with our 1 in 3 cut ratio, from the quarterfinals to the semi-final round, we would cut to the Top 2 in all three Divisions.
The A Division would have Brandon Loss (+166) emerge as the #1 seed and he would take on Dishawn Byrd (+126). The B Division would see Alex Benton (+77) take on Tracy Lee (+45). The C Division #1 seed would be Robert Sanders (+52) versus CJ Sturgess (+24).
The A Division semi-final would be a close match but Dishawn would be able to get enough to defeat Brandon, 214 to 193. The B Division would also be a somewhat close match but Tracy would pull it out to beat Alex, 226 to 194. The C Division would be a nail biter and would come down to the tenth frame. CJ had jumped out to an early lead but Robert would comeback to win the match, 217 to 214.
Going into the Finals we would see Dishawn and Tracy looking to add to the title number. Dishawn was looking to win his fourth AHT SFT title and Tracy would looking to add her second title. Robert was making his first Finals appearance and looking to win his first title. It seemed like Dishawn had to be the favorite going into the Finals as he had been on fire all day going +157 in qualifying and +126 in the quarterfinals.
The Finals match would be a close match from start to finish. All three bowlers would stay within ten pins of each other throughout the match. The handicap difference wasn’t much of an issue either as the gap from A Division to C Division was only 13 pins. It would all come down to the ninth and tenth frames. Dishawn would get a strike in the ninth to double and set himself up for the tenth frame. Tracy would get a strike as she needed to stay with Dishawn. Robert Sanders, working off a double, would have a small lead going into the ninth but his first shot would hit the pocket a bit high and leave the dreaded pocket 7-10. Robert was unable to convert the spare as he would pick off the 7-pin to give Dishawn and Tracy a chance. Dishawn would finish up the tenth frame needing all three strikes to close out the match. Dishawn would strike on his first ball in the tenth. Dishawn’s second shot would pull a bit left and crossover leaving the 4-pin, which he would pick up to finish at 228. Tracy would get up in the tenth and would get a much needed strike on her first shot. Tracy’s second shot would go high through the nose but would leave the 6-10. She would convert the spare and finish with a score of 235. This would leave Robert needing to get all three strikes in the tenth to finish in second place as his max score was only 233. Robert’s first ball in the tenth would hit the pocket but leave a stone 9-pin. Robert would pick it up and then strike on his fill ball to finish at 223.
This would give Tracy her second AHT SFT title and $1,000.00 first place prize! Congrats to Dishawn Byrd on second place and $600.00. Also congrats to Robert Sanders on third place and $350.00! Thank you to everyone that came out this weekend to bowl our event. Thank you to the staff at AMF Mesa for hosting our tournament and providing great service all day. Also a huge thank you to Michael Dragon for stepping in for Tawna this weekend as we wouldn’t be able to put this tournament on without him.
We’ll be back for another 2-squad tournament in a couple of weeks at Bowlero Via Linda. This will be our last event of the 2023 Winter Circuit. You can check on our website to see if you are in the Top 4 in quarterly points and don’t forget about the quarterly prizes that will be awarded. Hope you all have a great week and we’ll see you all soon!