SBT ventured up north to Camp Verde and Cliff Castle Casino Hotel's Shake Rattle & Bowl on Saturday, June 13th, where John Richards of Chino Valley, AZ brought home a check for $3,145!

Richards and the other 80 bowlers in the field rolled on Brunswick Saphino, a 44-foot pattern with a 6.75:1 ratio of Kegel Curve at 27.04mL of volume. Scores were high in this event, with the pattern opening up much more for the bowlers in the busier afternoon squads. The average cut score was +80 across the 145 entries. SBT paid out $16,230 prizes to bowlers in this one-day event!

Richards, a lefty representing the Challenger Division, faced off against fellow lefty Zach Van Dusen of Gilbert, AZ, who was representing the Scratch Division, along with Jonathan Ferrell of Phoenix from the Senior Division and local bowler Chris Hull from Camp Verde, representing the Foundation Division.

Richards, receiving 7 pins handicap, advanced to the final match with a +68 qualifying score, +128 in the Cashers Round, and an Eliminator Round score of 241 (234+7), defeating Alex Rosenblum with 225 (216+9) and Seth Krich with 222 (207+15).

In the other divisional finals, Van Dusen defeated Anthony Strickland 236-205, Ferrell defeated Rick Mayber 208 (203+5) to 151 (139+12), and Chris Hull with 238 (202+36) defeated both Jack Stewart with 227 (194+33) and Conner Barker with 199 (173+26).

With no handicap for Van Dusen, only 5 and 7 pins for Ferrell and Richards, respectively, and 36 pins for Hull, the championship match was essentially a scratch contest between the former three if they could overtake Hull. With high scores all day, it was clear from the start that stringing strikes would be the key to victory, whether it was getting carry from off-hits or just getting that one extra strike to extend a string. Through the first half of the game, though, the only string was from Van Dusen, who started the game with three in a row. The other three were finding their footing with Hull opening in the 3rd and not putting any strikes together and both Ferrell and Richards with doubles. The match was nearly even at that point with half a game to go and simply needed one of the bowlers to make a statement.

That statement, as it turns out, was made by Richards, who strung an 8-bagger that started in the 4th frame to pull away for the dominating victory with a 267 scratch. Heading to the 9th, though, even the 5-bagger that Richards carried into that frame was not enough to be sure of the victory. But in the 9th frame, Richards delivered a flush strike that all but guaranteed victory, while Van Dusen tripped a 6-pin and both Hull and Ferrell carried mixers. The remaining three bowlers still had a lot at stake with a $500 difference between 2nd and 4th, depending on which ones could capitalize on the foundation strikes each of them had. 

Hull opened the 10th with a devastating 2-8-10, taking him out of contention, while Van Dusen struck on his first ball. With a small lead over Ferrell, another hit on his 2nd ball in the 10th could have shut out Ferrell, but a high hit left the 6-7. Ferrell had an opportunity to pull in to second place with the first two in the 10th, but although his first ball was a solid flush strike, his second came up light to leave him just short. The final scores with handicap were Richards 274 (+7), Van Dusen 223 (+0), Ferrell 221 (+5), and Hull 208 (+36).

The Progressive Pot, having not been broken in full since the very first Saturday Shootout in January, held the potential for Richards to win another $3,000 and bring his total winnings for the day to $5,500. To break the pot, a bowler has to throw three strikes in a row across three different lanes, with the first two on the championship pair and the third on an adjacent pair. After the first strike, the player wins a portion of the pot and has a "Deal or No Deal" choice to make whether to continue and risk half of what they already won or to stop and keep their winnings to that point. Richards struck convincingly on the first shot to win 10% of the pot, decided to continue and threw another solid strike to reach 30% of the pot, and again decided to go for the maximum 70% of the pot with a third strike on an adjacent lane. Unfortunately, that third ball came up high and his winnings dropped back to 15% of the Progressive Pot, giving him a total prize of $3,145.

The remainder of the pot carries over to our next Saturday Shootout in Tucson, where we are again projecting about $5,500 to a winner who can throw all three of those strikes!

SBT would like to thank all the bowlers who came out to Shake Rattle & Bowl for this event. It was a big commitment for many of them to drive roughly 90 minutes from the Valley, but a turnout of 81 bowlers to this small center rolling 145 entries when there were a couple of other big events running simultaneously shows that competitive bowling in the state of Arizona is alive and well!

We'd like to extend our thanks also to Robert Jackson, Jr., Shannon Grimes, Robert Florisi, Terry Fryman, and the entire fine staff at Shake Rattle & Bowl for your terrific support! We love coming to Cliff Castle and hope to bring many more events there in the future!

Our continued thanks to all of our outstanding sponsors, many of whom provide prize giveaways for our bowlers which are awarded randomly during the tournament. Tracy Miller won a FREE high performance bowling ball in our 10:45 squad, courtesy of Brunswick. Jeremy Reygaert won a free SBT jersey from EFX in the 9:15 squad, while both John Richards and Ron Schloss won a free single entry for any SBT event in the next year. Conner Barker won a B3 Performance lane package with Specto, Hayden Hull won a one-year subscription to Tenpin Toolkit, and both Marc Bakunowski and Rick Darnell won $25 in SBT credit to use in a future event!

Thanks also to our local Arizona sponsors Chuck's Painting, Melody Rane with Rane Family Insurance, weightloss-peptides.com, and Jake's Bethany Auto Repair, all of whom are stepping up to support bowling in our community. Please show your appreciation to our sponsors by patronizing these businesses and letting them know how much you appreciate their support of SBT!

Our Mystery Score pot paid out $1,100 in this event, including a $500 prize won by Linda Skinder and $250 prizes won by Gordon Barker and Daniel Capps. About $700 carries over to our next event in Tucson!

High qualifiers from each division in our 9:15 squad won $50 in SBT credit toward a future event. Congratulations to Alec Johnson and Michael Frenak!

Finally, a shout-out to our staff for this event: Chris Wiley and Amanda Larson! We love our staff and hope you do, too!

Tournament Results
==================

Championship Match

John Richards, Challenger Division, Champion, $3,145
Zach Van Dusen, Scratch Division, 2nd place, $1,000
Jonathan Ferrell, Senior Division, 3rd place, $750
Chris Hull, Foundation Division, 4th place, $500

Advancers from the Cashers Round:

Foundation: Jack Stewart $250, Conner Barker $250
Challenger: Alex Rosenblum $250, Seth Krich $250
Senior: Rick Mayber $250
Scratch: Anthony Strickland $250

Other cashers -- all winning $200:

Foundation: Ann-Marie Hull, Tracy Miller, Mike Pleasant, Melody Rane, Craig Strode, Michael Hannah\
Challenger: Michael Arce, Skyler Yazzie, Edward Polansky, Spencer Peterson, Bill Keeling
Senior: Ken Friedrich, Patrick Lombardo, Michael Frenak, Jason Swinney, William Milho
Scratch: Joey Burruel, Alec Johnson, Hayden Hull

Southwest Bowling Tour visited Let It Roll Bowl in Phoenix on Saturday, May 2nd for Saturday Shootout 5, where Greg Scheetz of Scottsdale come home with the victory and a check for $2,500!

Bowlers competed on the 2020 European Senior Championship oil pattern, a 40-foot pattern with a 4:09:1 ratio of Kegel Ice at 25.09mL of volume. With the ratio being on the more difficult end of the Challenge spectrum, scores were somewhat lower than usual for a Saturday Shootout, with the average cut score of +32.

Scheetz, 70, represented the Senior Division in the championship match versus Dave Kist from Calgary, Michael Arce of Peoria, and Brandon Loss of Phoenix. Scheetz, receiving no handicap, advanced to the final match with a +13 qualifying score, +95 in the Casher's Round (including a 299), and with a 232-190 defeat of Roland Franklin in the Eliminator round. In the other divisional finals, Kist defeated Lenny Grom 228 (206+22) to 195 (162+33), Arce defeated CJ Halse 253 (244+9) to 183 (171+12), and Loss defeated Mike Jones III 222-220.

In the championship match, the four players - all right-handed - were taking two very different approaches in attacking the lanes. Loss and Arce with their higher rev rates were playing around the 5th arrow and relying on a strong back-end reaction, while Scheetz and Kist were playing straighter to control the pocket. Loss surged out to an early lead with a spare and a triple, but a 2-4-10 in the 5th frame was the first sign that he was losing his look, and that continued with a 2-4-8-10 in the 7th. 

Up to that point in the game, Scheetz, playing around 3rd arrow, stayed clean while putting together a couple of doubles to take the lead. Arce has one open, but only one strike as he was unable to get his ball to read in the right part of the lane, while Kist had two opens but tossed a double in the 6th and 7th, making the match a close one going in to the last few frames, but with Scheetz still in the clear lead. In the 8th, Loss was unable to convert a 3-6-9-10, Arce & Kist spared, and Scheetz struck to hold his lead. In order for any of the others to challenge Scheetz' lead, they would need to put multiple strikes together in the 9th & 10th, but none did and Scheetz stayed clean through the 10th to seal his victory and the $2,500 first place prize with the Progressive Pot. 

Sheetz would like to thank his wife for putting up with his obsession, Jordan Nassberg for the years of support, and Brett Wolfe for the lesson last week. "The changes have worked!"

Scheetz had an opportunity to more than double his winnings to over $5,000 by breaking the pot with three more strikes after his victory, but he was unable to convert, leaving a shaker-7 on his first attempt. The remainder of the Progressive Pot will carry over to our next event at Cliff Castle in May. If the pot is broken there, the winner could come home with as much as $5,500!

John and his staff at SBT thank all the bowlers for coming out to Let It Roll Bowl. As with our previous event, the morning squads were a bit quiet, but we were VERY busy in the afternoon, filling both squads with all available lanes and even had a waiting list for our 1:00 squad. Thanks also to Stacy Anderson and his fine staff at Let It Roll for opening their center to us. It's a great independent center with a cool vibe and also has terrific food, and we look forward to returning in the future!

Our continued thanks to all of our outstanding sponsors, many of whom provide prize giveaways for our bowlers which are awarded randomly during the tournament. Winning a FREE high performance bowling ball in our 10:00 squad courtesy of Brunswick was Kurt Gries. Richard Newsome won a free SBT jersey from EFX in the 8:30 squad, while Jim Cote won a free single entry for any SBT event in the next year in the 1:00 squad. Ming Shih won a B3 Performance lane package with Specto, and Christopher Gray won a one-year subscription to Tenpin Toolkit!

Thanks also to our local Arizona sponsors Chuck's Painting, Acclaim Garage Doors, Melody Rane with Rane Family Insurance, weightloss-peptides.com, and Jake's Bethany Auto Repair, all of whom are stepping up to support bowling in our community. Please show your appreciation to our sponsors by patronizing these businesses and letting them know how much you appreciate their support of SBT!

Our Mystery Score pot paid out $1,200 in this event, including a $500 prize won by Stefan Matheos and another $500 prize split by Christopher Gray and Mike Umstead. Nearly $1,100 carries over to our next event!

High qualifiers from each division in our 8:30 squad won $50 in SBT credit toward a future event. Congratulations to Doc Henry, CJ Halse, Joshua Grapevine, and Greg Scheetz!

The championship match is available for streaming on YouTube. Subscribe to our YouTube channel at youtube.com/@bowlsbt to be notified of future event postings. You can watch a playback of that event here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1lFhYmch9E. Full results are posted at bowlsbt.com/results.

Our next event is June 13th at Shake Rattle & Bowl, part of Cliff Castle Casino Hotel in Camp Verde, Arizona. Register online at bowlsbt.com/portal for all our events. Cliff Castle has a small, 20-lane center, so squad sizes will be limited. We expect some squads to sell out, so sign up early to get your favorite squad times. Consider staying there at a great $99/night rate (see bowlsbt.com for details) and bowling our morning squads, where we have many additional prizes available for bowlers, including a free ball from the brands of Brunswick, a free SBT jersey from EFX, and $50 in SBT credit to the high qualifiers from each division from the first squad of the day. Our morning squads are starting 45 minutes later than usual at 9:15 and 10:45. Come to Cliff Castle and make a weekend of it, with lots to see and do in the beautiful Verde Valley!

Finally, a shout-out to our staff for this event: Chris Wiley, Norm Shucart, and Robin Verbil! Our staff is amazing and love to make your SBT experience fun and memorable!

SBT returned to the Valley of the Sun on April 4th with Saturday Shootout IV at Bowlero Via Linda. Kyle Gilbert of Maricopa made his second consecutive Saturday Shootout championship round appearance, this time coming through with the victory and the $2,500 first place prize!

Gilbert, the Scratch Division representative, qualified with +99 during the afternoon cut. With this event on the Challenge pattern 2018 SYC TN Medium, a 39-foot pattern with a 4.91:1 ratio and 26.915mL of volume, scores were as expected with an average cut score of +48. In the championship match, Gilbert faced the other three division winners: Kurt Gries of Gilbert, representing the Senior Division, Dong Thach of Tucson in the Foundation Division, and Joshua Grapevine of Scottsdale, from the Challenger Division.

Early in the championship match, Gries jumped out to a quick lead with strikes in the first four frames and was clean through the first five, while Thach found himself in an immediate hole with 7-10 splits in the first two frames and looking up at the field the rest of the way. Gilbert and Grapevine each had one open through six with only one double between them, so Gries was in control to that point, but then the wheels started to fall off as he lost his look completely while Gilbert and Grapevine began to put strikes together. By the time they all reached the 9th frame, the match was between Gilbert and Grapevine. Gilbert had a small lead with double up, while Grapevine had a triple with a chance to take the lead. Grapevine, going first, had his ball came up just high, leaving the 4-pin. Gilbert then followed with a chance to extend his lead, but his ball also came up high, leaving the 9-pin. Both converted their spares, bringing the match to the final frame. 

In the 10th, Gilbert went first with a chance to shut out Grapevine with the first two strikes. His first shot was dead flush, ten back. Grapevine then followed with a light mixer strike to keep the pressure on Gilbert. A strike for Gilbert would seal the victory. Anything less would give Grapevine a chance to steal it, but Gilbert walked off a can-opener strike to claim the title! Grapevine claimed 2nd place for $1,000, with Gries taking third for $750 and Thach rounding out the field with a $500 prize. 

Gilbert was unable to throw any additional strikes to claim a portion of the Progressive Pot, so that money will carry over to SBT's next event at Let It Roll Bowl in Phoenix on May 2nd. Our Progressive Pot is GROWING and the winner at Let It Roll Bowl could win $4,500 or more if they break the pot!

SBT paid out $17,982 in cash and prizes in this tournament, bringing the year's total to $125,164 in just four events!

SBT thanks Jacob Keeney, Rachael Owens, and all of their staff at Bowlero Via Linda for an excellent job hosting this tournament. We had only one short-lived breakdown all day and squads stayed on-time throughout.

Thanks again to all the bowlers who came out to compete on the day before Easter. We were pleasantly surprised by the turnout of 156 entries at this event. Although the morning was slow, the center was BUZZING in the afternoon!

Our continued thanks to all of our outstanding sponsors, many of whom provide prize giveaways for our bowlers that are awarded randomly throughout the tournament. Winning a FREE high performance bowling ball courtesy of Brunswick was Doug Mehlhop. Kevan Drinkle won a free SBT jersey from EFX, while Dave Kist won a free single entry for any SBT event in the next year. Mike Jones III won a B3 Performance lane package with Specto, and Matthew Jasper won a one-year subscription to Tenpin Toolkit!

Thanks also to our local Arizona sponsors Chuck's Painting, Acclaim Garage Doors, Melody Rane with Rane Family Insurance, weightloss-peptides.com, and Jake's Bethany Auto Repair, all of whom are stepping up to support bowling in our community. Please show your appreciation to our sponsors by patronizing these businesses and letting them know how much you appreciate their support of SBT!

Our Mystery Score pot paid out $800 in this event, including a $500 prize won by Carlos Guillen. Over $1,500 carries over to our next event!

The championship match is available for streaming on YouTube. Subscribe to our YouTube channel at youtube.com/@bowlsbt to be notified of future event postings. 

Finally, a shout-out to our staff for this event: Amanda Larson, Norm Shucart, and Robin Verbil, who make every event super smooth!

It was a nail-biting finish to the inaugural SBT Morongo Classic at Canyon Lanes in Cabazon, California on March 29th when Betty Marquez of Chatsworth, California threw clutch strikes in the 10th frame to pull out the victory and take home the winner's check for $8,000.00!

The championship match between Marquez (Foundation Division), Dave Inoshita of Cave Creek, Arizona (Senior Division), Bobby Campagnale of Riverside, California (Scratch Division), and Gustavo Toscano of Ensenada, Mexico (Challenger Division) was full of twists and turns in the final few frames, with Marquez holding the lead heading into the 8th frame. But when she left the "lily" 5-7-10 in the 8th after a double, it seemed she had all but handed the match to Inoshita, who was trailing slightly behind her to that point, when it was a 2-person match for the championship with Campagnale and Toscano battling for 3rd place.

In the 9th, both Marquez (receiving 23 pins of handicap) and Inoshita (receiving 7 pins) spared, leaving Inoshita with a 10-pin lead including handicap. Inoshita led off the 10th with a chance to seal the victory with two strikes. A strike+spare combo would have guaranteed him at least a tie, with anything less leaving an opening for Marquez. That very thing happened as his first ball was a light mixer that couldn't take out the 7-pin. This still gave him a good chance at victory with a made spare, which would have forced Marquez to double. Off his hand, though, his second ball was left of target and dropped into the gutter just before reaching the 7-pin. This turn of events left Marquez with a chance to seal the victory with at least good count, spare, and good count again, but she removed all doubt by throwing two clutch strikes to seal the victory!

Marquez took home the $8,000 first place prize, with Inoshita still receiving a sizable $3,500 in cash for his second-place finish. Toscano came in third for $2,000, with Campagnale rounding out the field for $1,000.

Bowlers competed on a custom-designed 40-foot oil pattern with 30.35mL of conditioner and a 2.45:1 ratio. There were 340 entries in this event rolled by 179 bowlers, with an astonishing average cut score of just 595 with handicap. Three squads were completely sold out. SBT paid out $48,323 in cash and prizes in this tournament, bringing the year's total to $107,182 in just four events!

SBT would like to extend *HUGE* thank you to title sponsor Morongo Casino Resort & Spa on behalf of all our bowlers for adding significantly to the prize fund to enable these big payouts!

We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to all the bowlers who came out to compete. We were touched by the many expressions of gratitude and compliments from so many bowlers to our staff about how well the event ran. We LOVE running these events! To the amazing staff at Canyon Lanes: Thank you for your incredible support! Sandy Kunkel and her entire crew there are second-to-none, on top of every problem, and communicated excellently and proactively throughout. 

We also wish to extend our thanks to Paula Vidad, the recently-retired GM of Canyon Lanes who nurtured a culture of excellence there and has been a strong proponent of growing this tournament. Without her heartfelt support and that of several others in the bowling industry, SBT might not even exist today. We can't wait to return next year, when we plan to bring the SBT Morongo Classic to Canyon Lanes with a $10,000 first place prize! Mark your calendars now for March 18-21, 2027!

Our continued thanks to all of our outstanding sponsors, many of whom provide prize giveaways for our bowlers that are awarded randomly throughout the tournament. Winning FREE high performance bowling balls courtesy of Brunswick were Matt Ridgway and Dylan Taylor. Andrew Toro, Sr. won a free SBT jersey from EFX, while Kepa Cabanas won a free single entry for any SBT event in the next year. Eric Rane won a B3 Performance lane package with Specto, and Laurence Schwarz won a one-year subscription to Tenpin Toolkit!

Thanks also to our local Arizona sponsors Chuck's Painting, Acclaim Garage Doors, Melody Rane with Rane Family Insurance, weightloss-peptides.com, and Jake's Bethany Auto Repair, all of whom are stepping up to support bowling in our community. Please show your appreciation to our sponsors by patronizing these businesses and letting them know how much you appreciate their support of SBT!

Our Mystery Score pot paid out $1,600 in this event, including $250 prizes won by Blair Kappes, Jason Dias, Chamrong Chhauy, and Lopito Caluag, and $160 carries over to our next Classic event, the SBT Jake's Auto Labor Day Classic at Bowlero Kyrene over Labor Day weekend.

The championship match is available for streaming on YouTube. Thanks to Dylan Taylor for joining us with his excellent color commentary on the live stream! 

Lastly, a shout-out to our staff for this event: Amanda Larson, Chris Wiley, Brian Verbil, and Robin Verbil. You are the BEST! Thank you for making the trip to Morongo and for making our bowlers so happy!

Josh Williams of Tempe came away with the $2,500 champion's prize after a solid performance wire-to-wire at the SBT Saturday Shootout III held on March 7th at Lucky Strike Gilbert!

Bowlers in this event competed on the 2025 PBA Webb lane pattern, a 37-foot Challenge pattern at 4.58:1 with 27.7mL of volume. The average cut score was +39, with the lowest being -1 in the Foundation Division's morning cut and the highest +93 for the Scratch Division, also in the morning cut. SBT paid out $18,744 in cash & prizes in this event, bringing the year's total to $58,859 in just three events!

In the title match, Williams, the 23-year-old former ASU bowler and Challenger Division champion, fended off Jeff Millmier of San Tan Valley, the Foundation Division representative, along with Kyle Gilbert of Maricopa from the Scratch division, and Kyle Howard of Queen Creek, who represented the Senior Division. 

Going into the 8th frame, Millmier was in control with two doubles and only one open to go with his 33 pins of handicap. Williams and Howard tracked close behind, with Gilbert struggling to find the great look that he had had on the lanes all day. Williams, first up in the 8th frame and carrying 8 pins of handicap, missed a 10-pin, which appeared to put Millmier even more firmly in the driver's seat, but then Millmier left the 4-6-10 and Howard left the 4-7-10 to keep the outcome in question. In the 9th, Williams spared a 10-pin to keep the pressure on Millmier to stay clean, while Howard left a 4-9 on a high hit to take himself out of contention for the title.

The lefty Millmier had a chance to lock up a victory by staying clean, and looked to be in good shape to do so after breaking up a 2-7 when the 2 fell late, but his spare ball dropped into the gutter to give Williams a chance to seize the victory in the 10th with a double, which is exactly what he did with two clutch strikes. Millmier finished second for $1,000, Gilbert third for $750, and Howard rounded out the field for $500.

Williams was unable to convert on his first strike attempt to break the Progressive Pot, so the balance of the pot will carry over to both of our next two events.

Many thanks to Jodi Bach and her entire fine staff at Lucky Strike Gilbert for hosting us for this event. We love coming to this center and can't wait to come back!

We at SBT would like to again thank the bowling community of Arizona and throughout the southwest for your amazing support. We've had 535 entries combined in our first three events, which is just incredible and well beyond what we were expecting. Thank you also for your patience as we dealt with some early glitches with our software, particularly in our first event at Bowlero Kyrene. We've gotten through the early hiccups now and this weekend's event ran very smoothly. We expect it to only get better from here... and we can't wait for you to see what new features we have up our sleeves in the future!

SBT would again like to thank our great sponsors, many of whom provide prize giveaways for our bowlers that are awarded randomly throughout the day. Winning a FREE high performance bowling ball courtesy of Brunswick was Jeff Millmier. Josh Mabry won a free SBT jersey from EFX, while Justin Boom won a free single entry for any SBT event in 2026. Jim Cote won a B3 Performance lane package with Specto, and Joshua Umstead won a one-year subscription to Tenpin Toolkit! In addition, the high scores from the 8:30 squad that qualified also won a free single entry to a future Saturday Shootout in 2026. Congratulations to Buddy Darnell, Tracy Miller, and Kyle Gilbert!

Thanks also to local sponsors Chuck Lucas with Chuck's Painting, Michael Arce with Acclaim Garage Doors, Melody Rane with Rane Family Insurance, Marcus Haley with weightloss-peptides.com, and Marc Bakunowski with Jake's Bethany Auto Repair, all of whom are stepping up to support bowling in our community. Please show your appreciation to our sponsors by patronizing these businesses and letting them know how much you appreciate their support of SBT!

Our Mystery Score pot paid out $575 in this event, including a $250 prize won by Izak Dunn, and nearly $1,400 carries over to our next Saturday Shootout at Bowlero Via Linda on March 7th.

Lastly, a shout-out to our staff for this event: Amanda Larson, Norm Shucart, and Robin Verbil. Thank you for making the day run so smoothly!

In an epic finish that went right down to the wire, 23-year-old Jack Haines of Mesa pulled out a 1-pin victory in the SBT Saturday Shootout II on February 21st. Haines earned $2,540 for his victory in a memorable event that saw extremely high scores at Bowlero Union Hills in Phoenix. 105 bowlers rolled a total of 146 entries on the day, with SBT paying out $16,713 in cash and prizes. This event included competitors not only from across Arizona, but from Nevada, South Dakota, Kansas, Michigan, Washington, Minnesota, and New Mexico!

In the championship match, Haines, an HVAC technician representing the Challenger Division, duked it out with Derek Acuff, the lefty Scratch Division representative, along with Seth Krich of Cave Creek from the Foundation Division and John Talon of Ypsilanti, MI from the Senior Division. Haines struck 7 out of the first 8 frames, but Acuff laid down the gauntlet with the front 7, and Krich stalked them both by staying clean and adding a triple of his own. Talon only had one open in that stretch and was otherwise clean, but the scoring pace required stringing strikes. 

By the eighth frame, all eyes were on Acuff's string, but both Haines and Krich stayed well within range. Acuff finally created an opening in the eighth, coming up high and getting a small break leaving only a four pin, which he converted. That left things neck-and-neck (and -neck) going into the foundation frame, with Haines' 4 pins of handicap creating the only separation between the top two and Krich not far behind with his 21 pins. Bowling on opposite lanes in the 9th, Haines started by leaving a devastating (or so it seemed) 3-6-7-9-10 while Acuff left the 7-pin on his first ball, putting Acuff firmly in the driver's seat. But in an incredible turn of events, Haines' spare attempt splashed the 6-pin into the side board, which ricocheted and pushed the 3-pin into the 7-pin for the conversion, and then Acuff then flagged his 7-pin. This created an opening for Krich, who had a strike up in the 8th. With a double, he would have been in the driver's seat, but his very well-thrown ball denied him with a ringing 10-pin. 

Even so, all three of them had a chance at the top prize going in to the 10th, with Krich only 8 pins behind Haines with handicap. He just needed both of them to not double. Haines and Acuff, however, were determined to take it all the way to the wire, trading strikes in the tenth, with both of them striking out for Haines to take the 1-pin victory, 258 (254+4) to 257. Krich also struck out to close out the scoring, only 8 pins behind the victor at 250 (229+21). Talon, who has been visiting the Valley over the past month or so from Michigan, rounded out the championship field with 183 (181+2).

Haines had the opportunity to break the Progressive Pot after his victory, but managed just one additional strike to add $40, giving him $2,540 for his victory. Acuff received $1,000 for his second place finish, Krich $750 for third, and Talon $500 for fourth.

Competitors bowled on the Kegel Titanium pattern, a 44-foot Challenge pattern with 25mL of volume and a 4.21:1 ratio... but it did not play anything like it was drawn up. Scores were absolutely stratospheric all day, with most cut scores above +100. Topping the scoring, Acuff also tossed a 300 game during the Cashers Round.

We are very thankful for all of our sponsors, many of whom provide prize giveaways for our bowlers. Winning a FREE high performance bowling ball courtesy of Brunswick was Paul Schuler. Keith Fung won a free SBT jersey from EFX, while Tom Warren won a free single entry for any SBT event in 2026. Brian Rowley, Sr. won a B3 Performance lane package with Specto, and Paul Mahar won a one-year subscription to Tenpin Toolkit! In addition, the high qualifiers from the 8:30 squad won a free single entry to a future Saturday Shootout in 2026. Congratulations to Alex Vu, Harley Nicholson, Derek Acuff, and Marcus Haley! Thanks also to local sponsors Chuck's Painting, Acclaim Garage Doors, Melody Rane with Rane Family Insurance, weightloss-peptides.com, and Jake's Bethany Auto Repair, all of whom are stepping up to support bowling in our community. Please show your appreciation to our sponsors by patronizing these businesses and letting them know how much you appreciate their support of SBT!

Our Mystery Score pot paid out $800 in this event, including a $500 prize won by Jack Stewart, and nearly $900 carries over to our next event at Lucky Strike Gilbert on March 7th. With a minimal payout from our Progressive Pot in this event, someone breaking the pot in Gilbert could win as much as $3,500!

Our next event at Lucky Strike Gilbert on March 7th is coming soon! Register online at bowlsbt.com/portal. If you're already in our system after bowling at either Kyrene or Union Hills, registering online is SUPER EASY with only entering your phone number & password, then a few clicks and you're done! If you did a walk-up registration at either event without pre-registering online, then you'll need to use the "forgot password" link on the website to set your password for the first time.

Lastly, a shout-out to our staff for this event: Barb Wilson, Amanda Larson, Norm Shucart, and Robin Verbil, who kept lines moving and bowlers happy. Thank you!

Southwest Bowling Tour held its inaugural event at Bowlero Kyrene in Chandler, AZ on January 24th, where Chris Klerk of Chandler brought home the title along with a huge $3,700 payday! The center was BUZZING all day with activity as 137 bowlers took to the lanes, rolling a whopping 215 entries. SBT paid out $23,402 in cash and prizes to competitors from across Arizona, with some bowlers hailing from New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado, and even Canada!

Klerk, the 45-year-old Scratch Division champion, had a tremendous look on the championship pair, throwing the back 11 for a 290 and the $3,000 first place prize. He then followed that up with three more strikes on three different lanes to break the nascent Progressive Pot for an additional $700! Klerk needed almost every bit of that 290 as Chongim Dodson of Chandler - the Senior Division champion - was locked in on that pair as well, throwing 10 strikes for a 257 scratch - 271 with handicap. With her handicap, she actually had the upper hand over Klerk until the 8th frame when her ball came up a bit high and she left the 4-7. That was the only opening Klerk needed as he simply could not miss after opening the game with a 7-pin (that was briefly a 7-9). Dodson received $1,200 for her impressive second-place finish that on almost any other day would have been more than enough for the win. Leah Zweig of Scottsdale, representing the Foundation Division, came in 3rd with 211 (190+21) for $800 and Ricky Perez of Mesa, from the Challenger Division, rounded out the championship match field with 198 (195+3) for $500.

Competitors bowled on the Kegel Chromium lane pattern, a 42-foot pattern with 25.56mL of volume and a 6.71:1 ratio, which is on the softer side of Challenge patterns, and it showed with the scores in this event. Scores were generally high throughout the day and got higher on the later squads after the lanes were more burned. Four qualifying squads of 3 games across 6 lanes - two in the morning and two in the afternoon - were split into two independent 1-in-5 cuts by division. Bowlers only had to make one of the cuts to reach the Cashers Round at 5 PM, where all competitors again bowled 3 games across 6 lanes toward a 1-in-3 cut by division. The average cut score in qualifying was a very healthy +44. 

Congratulations to Pat Lombardo, who bowled the only 300 game of the event - in the last game of the last qualifying squad - giving him just enough to make the cut!

Our amazing sponsors provide some terrific prizes to give out to random bowlers in every event. Winning a FREE high performance bowling ball courtesy of Brunswick was Shawn Grant. Kyle Gilbert won a free SBT jersey from EFX, while Buddy Darnell won a free single entry for any SBT event in 2026. Cesar Padilla won a B3 Performance lane package with Specto,and David Nelson won a one-year subscription to Tenpin Toolkit! In addition, the high qualifiers from the 8:30 squad won a free single entry to a future Saturday Shootout in 2026. Congratulations to Leah Zweig, Tyler Milbrandt, Kyle Gilbert, and Marcus Haley!

Our Mystery Score pot paid out $405 in this event, and over $800 carries over to our next event at Bowlero Union Hills on February 21st!

Many thanks to our fantastic sponsors who help make this possible: Brunswick Bowling, EFX, B3 Performance, Tenpin Toolkit, Chucks Painting, Acclaim Garage Doors, Melody Rane with Rane Family Insurance, weightloss-peptides.com, and Jake's Bethany Auto Repair. Please show your appreciation to our sponsors by patronizing these businesses and letting them know how much you appreciate their support of Southwest Bowling Tour!

Thanks also to the amazing support of Jay Jay Newell and his terrific staff at Bowlero Kyrene! It was a very busy day for their crew but they kept everything running amazingly well.

Lastly, a HUGE shout-out to our staff: Chris Wiley, Barb Wilson, Amanda Larson, Norm Shucart, and Robin Verbil. On a day when our brand-new software system - and the internet connection - threw a few curveballs our way, this team hit it out of the park. You all are amazing!