He started strong. Then he sorta just quietly kept pace. Then he got lost in the shuffle. Then he won.
Such was how it went for Adam Chase at today's Bowlage.com Strike 10 Scratch Shootout from Strike 10 Lanes Deer Park. In the 6-game scratch sweeper format bowled on the 47 foot Statue of Liberty pattern, it all came down to the final Game 6 to determine the winner. And the end yielded a winner that no one really thought was in contention.
Chase started the tournament with a 259 in Game 1 and trailed only Scott Kampf at that point. He came back with a 194 in game 2 and after Pierce Field started the tourney with a 248, 238, 222 and 286, it felt like a race for second place with Field having built a 60+ pin lead with 2 games to go. Field, however, struggled to a 198 in Game 5 and led Kevin Mavrich by only 18 pins headed into the final Game 6.
Mavrich's pair was ahead of the pace and after he finished with a 189, it became a 4-horse race for first between Chase, Kampf, Field and Anthony Arias. And that's when things REALLY got interesting. Kampf started game 6 with spare, 6 bagger and looked well on his way, however Arias, trailing Field by 57 pins after 5 games, started with the front 6. Field meanwhile was on a 230 pace and it looked like Kampf and Arias would need huge games to overtake him. It all changed in the 8th and 9th frames when Field opened in back-to-back frames. Kampf was on a 290 pace and Arias a 279 and it all looked like it was coming down to the end. And it did . . . but with someone totally lost in the shuffle.
Field left a 3-6 in the tenth frame, which gave both Kampf and Arias chances to win if they struck out in the tenth. FIeld converted his spare and then threw a 9 count to finish 189. Arias would need to strike out for a 265 and overtake Field, however he faltered in the tenth and finished 233. After Arias finished his tenth, Kampf needed to strike out to force a tie with Field in what seemed like a potential roll-off for first. . . that is until Chase walked by. Having been lost in the shuffle, Chase trailed Field by 55 pins headed into the final Game 6, however he shot a 256 to finish it off and while everyone thought that Arias, Kampf and Field were fighting for first, they were actually fighting for second as Chase had already clinched the win. Kampf ended up finishing with a 224 and settled for the third place finish in what was a highly suspenseful finish.
The final standings were:
- Adam Chase (+193)
- Pierce Field (+181)
- Scott Kampf (+170)
- Anthony Arias (+168)
- Kevin Mavrich (+163)
Joe Scianna ended up taking home the over-50 senior pot with a 1288. Chase took home $1,000 for the win, with Field ($500), Kampf ($300), Arias (+200) and Mavrich (+100) rounding out the cashers. Congratulations to all on a great tournament. We hope to run another one in the coming weeks!
Videos are below:
