State Triples Results
The State Triples started today at the Burnie & Wynard Bowls Clubs. In the Men’s competition, there were 6 sections with the winners plus 2 best losers advancing, whilst the women had 4 sections with just the winners advancing. Let’s have a look at what happened.
Men’s Triples
In Section 1 the two fancied teams skipped by Tim Douce & Luke Richardson both won their first two games and set up a do or die battle in the third and final game. Douce went into the game with a 31 shot margin & Richardson had 14 shots, a close result would give the loser a chance to also advance. However, it would not be a close game, with Douce’s rink performing very well to win 31-9 giving him the section won and leaving Richardson with 4 points -8, unlikely enough to get through.
Section 2 saw Cameron Windram & Joe Simpson win their first game by double digits before facing each other in the second round. A 15 all draw left both teams with 3 points. This now meant that a win for both teams in round 3 would likely see them both through whilst also opening the door for Steve Mundy who now needed to win against Windram and hope Simpson would slip up. Simpson would not lose, thus winning the section & Mundy would stop Windram advancing, leaving his rink with 4 points and -4, an outside chance of still qualifying.
Section 3 only had 3 teams and after the first two games the two winners were Rocket Horton (+18) & Greg Douce (+24). Knowing now that the other two sections had their second place finishes in the minus shots up, a less than 10 shot margin would likely see both teams through. However Douce’s rink was far too strong for Horton, leading 28-8 before handshakes took place with 2 ends remaining. With the 2 lucky losers going through, this was a surprising turn of events but a negative shots up had never progressed under the next best system, so finishing with 4 points and -2 shouldn’t come back to bite them, or could it?
Section 4 was another three team section with Mike Gaffney getting a 1 shot win over David Gamble before Luke Patterson managed to also defeat Gamble but by 9 shots. With the bonus 8 shot margin from having the bye (8 shots has been the average victory margin based on State Championship games played over the last 3 years) the teams had a +9 & +17 respectively. Once again, a close result would be enough for both teams to go through. But Patterson would ensure this once again did not happen, winning 35-9, taking the section. Unfortunately for Gaffney, 4 points & -17 was not enough to be a lucky loser.
In section 5 Scott Summers was the only rink to have won 2 games after 2 rounds and had a healthy 28 shot margin if they slipped up in the 3rd round. David Minns had yet to win a game but would go to defeat Summers in the last round giving the other teams an outside chance of catching them. A 20 shot margin would have been required, which never eventuated with Graham Hay defeating Bill Butler by 9 but his earlier 21 shot loss to Summers meant his total shots up of -5 was not going to get him the section or a next best result.
The last section had two of the fancied teams for the title, skipped by Mark Nitz and the other by Lee Schraner. But after Schraner only arrived in the NW Coast at 3:30 am (for some reason the BTS CoC’s was scheduled for the Friday night and didn’t finish until after 9pm) due to flat tyre’s and flat batteries and this may have been part of the reason they didn’t win their first game, drawing with Adrian Feltham 14-14. Nitz & Schraner would win their second game meaning the section would come down to their last match up. Hate to be a broken record, but a close result would mean both teams get through. Schraner would go on to win the last game 16-11 advancing as the section winner and with Nitz finishing 4 points +12 he too would also advance.
Controversy would abound after the games were finished with Rocket Horton’s rink finishing as one of the next best teams but this rink did not play their last 3-5 ends (this number has not been confirmed). With the game not being completed it was deemed that this team was ineligible to finish as one of the next best teams and Steve Mundy’s rink with 4 points and -4 shots being confirmed as the second next best team. I don’t believe a team with minus shots up has ever advanced as one of the next best teams.
In the Women’s competition we would only have one team go through with 3 wins, let’s have a look at how it all went down.
Section 1 was a three team section with Rae Simpson’s rink winning the first match before the team she defeated skipped by Bev Huett won the second game against Lyn Triffitt 25-6. The big win gave Huett a chance to win the section if Triffitt could defeat Simpson. The 3rd round needed Simpson to win or Triffitt to win by a big margin but neither scenario occurred, Triffitt winning by 4 and Huett would be able to watch from the sideline and be happy to see she had won the section.
Section 2 would see Candice Hodgett’s rink and Charon Foster’s rink both win their first two matches to set up a do or die match. Hodgetts would hold the advantage if there was a tie but this would not eventuate with Hodgetts running away a dominant winner 28-5. The 3 wins and +48 puts them in as favourite heading into the Semi Finals of this event.
Section 3 had 3 teams with Shiron Beavis winning the first match before Erin Moore would win by 1 shot against Dee Harman. With Moore only winning by 1, she wasn’t going to advance, so the last game between Beavis & Harman would decide the section. Harman would need to win by 5 shots or more to take the section and a 20-8 score line would prove more than enough for Harman to move into the Semi Finals.
Section 4 would be the last of the three team sections. Gaylene Elsworthy would defeat Maxine Monson by 14 shots before sitting on the side lines to see Jorja Maughan draw with Monson 16-16. The draw meant that whoever won the last match would advance and it would be Maughan who would win 21-17, a great result for one of our promising juniors.
That leaves us at the quarter finals stage for the Men & Semi Finals for the Women. The match ups are;
Tim Douce vs Greg Douce
Mark Nitz vs Luke Patterson
Joe Simpson vs Steve Mundy
Scott Summers vs Lee Schraner
Kim Saunders vs Jorja Maughan
Bev Huett vs Dee Harman
Good luck to all players involved
By David Genford