Hans captures 2014 King Pin Scratch Open championship

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on February 10, 2014 1:49 PM

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Don't be your own worst enemy.

Bowl slow and steady.

The two-part plan provided a $1,200 dividend for Chris Hans on Sunday afternoon. A semifinalist last season, Hans found a bit of fortune on the AMF Boulevard Lanes and returned to Rocky Mount as the 2014 King Pin Scratch Open champion.

Hans rolled a pair of timely middle-frame strikes that proved pivotal during a 190-174 victory over Virginia's Victor Florie in their single-game championship match. Florie deposited a $600 runner-up paycheck from the two-day tournament that drew 66 competitors from up and down the eastern seaboard.

"Overall, I bowled really well ... didn't beat myself," Hans said. "I don't think I had the best ball reaction. I certainly didn't throw the most strikes out of the guys who were here. You want to make your opponents beat you and fortunately for me, I got a couple of breaks at the right times.

"I never ran into a buzzsaw."

Or get bitten by the upset bug.

Once match play started, the top three seeds stumbled in the opening round. Hans, the fourth seed, maintained his slow and steady pace. He constantly adjusted to the challenges presented by the different lanes, and consistently avoided trouble.

Florie followed the same blueprint.

However, the best-of-three format changed to a single-game, winner-take-all battle in semifinal- and championship-round play.

"Your mentality changes a little bit," Hans said. "In a best-of-three match, you can fish around a little bit and make a ball change you might not make in a 1-game match. Before the title match, I was going to grab another ball and we only got one (practice) shot on each lane, so I made up my mind I was going to stick what I had used all day."

Florie didn't make the adjustment and seemed to be in good shape when he opened the championship match with strikes on two of the first three frames. Hans bowled a strike on his third frame, left the fourth frame open and rolled consecutive strikes in the fifth and sixth frames.

They each failed to record the spare on the seventh, and matched each other with strikes on the eighth and ninth frames.

Hans picked up the spare in the 10th and left two pins standing on his final roll. Florie did the same and on his final shot, the 10 pin wobbled but wouldn't go down for the strike which would have extended the final one more frame.

"Boy, I wanted that one to go," a smiling Florie said. "I wanted one more chance to throw a good shot and take it home."

Hans became the ninth different champion, and fourth from the Tar Heel State, in the Open's nine-year history. Shawn McKee, the 2013 champ, did not return to defend his title.

House favorite Matt Sander advanced to the final eight for the first time in nine Open appearances. He defeated ninth-seeded BJ Moore in the round of 16, but fell to Fayetteville's Tyrone Brewington 194-182 and 201-168 in the quarterfinals.

"You've just got to make shots, hit your mark," Sander said. "I did it a couple of times, missed a couple of times. I got some bad breaks, missed a couple of easy spares. You can't miss spares."

The News-Argus, Ditto Dog Printing, Chevrolet of Goldsboro and Bake My Day sponsored the two-day tournament.