Dechaine Outlasts Them All on Joss Tour

by Rick Davis

On the winners’ side Dechaine made short work of the chart, clearing it up in the hot seat match where he defeated Bucky Souvanthong 9-6. Then, on the one-loss side, the rest of the top eight were clawing and reaching to advance further.

Top national player and multi-time tour winner Dennis “The Hatchet Man” Hatch was slowly making a comeback from an early loss in day one. Hatch ousted Walter Szydlowski 9-2 then shut out Pete Bowman 9-0 to reach the quarterfinals. Nearby, the winner of the season’s first stop, Marc Vidal, eliminated Bruce Carroll 9-5 to catch up with Hatch in the quarterfinals. Hatch wasted little time and knocked out Vidal 9-3 and then kept up his streak by eliminating Souvanthong 9-5 in the semifinals.

With the finals on hand and the true double-elimination format in effect, a great match unfolded. Hatch took the opening set with a 9-7 squeaker, but in the second set the players hit the brakes and the score kept close. After a 7-all score Dechaine pulled away one rack to get on the hill and then inched over the line, taking the final rack to earn the event win after the 9-7 final set victory.