Review of Singles play including Junior Girls champion plus Vision & Intellectual Disability Singles Winners
Today was a day of Singles action in many disciplines. Unfortunately I don’t have score for all matches, so if I’m short on information in some disciplines, I apologise but I will try and add more to the story tomorrow when I get the information to hand. Let’s see what happened in a busy day of Bowls!
Junior Girls
Our first winner of the day was crowned in the junior girls. It was a battle in 3 and with Jorja Maughan & Lauren Banks making the final of the Open Women’s Pairs, both players were in great form. The other participant would be Casey Cornish. Banks & Cornish would be the first match and it was a very one sided affair with Banks winning 21-1. That left Cornish to play Maughan knowing that she couldn’t win. Maughan however, did need to ensure she won so that the last match became a final. But after being embarrassed in the first game, Cornish was out to prove what she was capable of and that she did, coming out to defeat Maughan 21-15. This put Banks in the box seat. Banks only needed to get to 8 shots against Maughan to take the title and that she did getting to 9 before Maughan shook hands. Banks will be turning 18 this year and was happy to claim this title, “Super stoked to be able to top off my last junior championships with the singles win.” I also asked Banks about how she was feeling before her Open Pairs final, “As for tomorrow I’m very nervous but Jorj and I are proud no matter the outcome for getting so far in the open comp!”
Bowlers with a Disability – Visual Impairments (pictured above)
Congratulations to Shane Van Riel who has taken out this title. Van Riel had to play 5 games in the day, with the first player to 15 being crowned the winner. He only won his first two games by 4 & 1 but must have kept his nose clean for the remaining games to be the winner.
Bowlers with a Disability – Intellectual
Congratulations to Daniel Smith who won this title. I don’t have any scores from his games but to win a state title in any discipline is a credit to the player who outshone his opponents so well done to Danieil.
Bowlers with a Disability – Physical – Men’s
Rick Ormerod will be going for his third title in four years after he convincingly won his section and the semi-final in today’s play. His opponent will be Robert Booth who also got through the tough day of 4 matches. Ormerod will go into the final as the red hot favourite, especially after winning bronze in the National Singles competition but he also had a very good run in the Open events. Booth will be keen to have a good game to show the State Selectors that he should be considered for the next Nationals. Good luck to both players.
Bowlers with a Disability – Physical – Women’s
The Finalists for this event has been decided with Alison Westwood taking on Marijke Raine. I have only seen one score from their sectional games with Raine winning by 3 and Westwood winning by 13 but they both must have done well in their 3rd game to get through to the Final.
Open Women’s Singles
The Women started off at the Quarter Final stage and would get it down to the 2 remaining participants. Lyn Triffitt and Kim Saunders was always going to be a great game to watch. Saunders wasn’t happy that myself & our Victorian correspondent picked Triffitt to win and was out to prove a point. Leading 7-1 & 11-3 it looked like Saunders was going to prove us wrong. But Triffitt is not one to give up and fight back she did. Triffitt would win 9 of the next 10 shots and at 12-12 it was anyone’s game. But it would be Triffitt it would kick away and never be headed. The end result would be 25-17 to Triffitt. Peri Buckley & Bree Godfrey was the next game but it would be Godfrey that stamped her authority on this game early. A lead of 15-2 was always going to be difficult to pull back for Buckley and Godfrey kept the foot down winning 25-7 (approximately, Buckley may have picked up a couple more shots). The third game was Nadine Seabourne & Amity Booth. Seabourne led 4-3 but things turned South from there. Both built a solid lead moving to 10-4 before Seabourne staged a mini comeback to 11-7. From then on Booth always kept Seabourne at arms length with scores of 13-9, 15-10 & 19-11, it wasn’t until Booth got to the 20’s that Seabourne started to apply some more scoreboard pressure. The margin was reduced to 6 but a 25-18 score would be enough for Booth to progress. The last game was Alison Venn vs Annie Lewis. This was the closest of the game in the early stages. No-one could really take an advantage over the other. It would be Venn that would take the first mini break going from 16-15 to 20-15, only 5 shots from victory. Lewis would fight back hard, getting it back to one shot 19-20 and it was going to be a sprint to the line. And the sprint was won by Lewis, who finished the game off quickly and found herself in the Semi Finals.
That left us with Lyn Triffitt vs Bree Godfrey & Amity Booth vs Annie Lewis.
Triffitt is the defending champion whilst Godfrey is a state representative that always plays well in big games. It was a see saw battle for the first half of the match, with neither player giving an inch. Triffitt lead 12-11 but no-one had led by more than 2 by this stage. It was then that Triffitt went up a gear and started to dominate the game. 15-12, 17-12, 20-12 and just like that she was 5 shots away from a Final. At 24-14 the game was as good as over, or was it. Godfrey moved to 17, then 18, then 19, she couldn’t could she? No, she couldn’t Triffitt eventually did close it out and has a chance to defend that title and even the silver medal from the National Championships. Who would her opponent be? Booth & Lewis are not in the state set up, but both have the talent to do so if they can increase their consistency at events like this. Making it to a final and even one better would really thrust themselves in front of the selector’s eyes. Lewis was electric out of the blocks. A 9-2 lead extended out to 15-5 and Lewis could see the finish line. But this was then Booth started to make her comeback. She wasn’t prepared to let Lewis have it all her own way and all of a sudden the margin had reduced from 10 to 7 to 5 to 0! Scores were level at 17 all! What a game. The scores would move to 19-19 before Booth was the first to enter the twenties. She would get to 24-19 and despite one end to Lewis making it 24-21, Booth would not let her have one more comeback, Booth would meet Triffitt in the Final.
Men’s Pairs
The Men had a round of 16 to play before the Quarter Finals and I’ll try and quickly cover those games. Josh Appleyard took an early lead against Luke Richardson and never looked back. His giant killing spree continued, could this be his year? At 11-6 Steve Graf & Michael Rankin was still close but Graf put his foot on the accelerator and ended up a convincing winner. Sam Springer is starting to show that he can bowl a bit and was too strong for previous champions Taelyn Male. This was a surprise to some, but not Springer who felt as though he was the favourite for the crown. Michael Sweeney looked too strong for Shane Baker on paper and the game went in such a fashion, Sweeney a convincing winner. The match of the round was Gene Ayton vs Robert Pyke. The game was close for the entire game but at 24-20 Ayton looked to take the win. Pyke fought back to 24-24, giving both players a big chance to advance, but despite holding two shots before the last bowl, Ayton was able to draw the shot and take the win. Brad Sculthorpe kept pace with Scott Summers for the first 8 ends but after that it would be Summers that would dominate the game and take the win. In a game that looked like it was the best on paper, McMullen didn’t allow Douce to get into the game. Winning ends was the key for McMullen who was never troubled and would advance. The final game was Peter Bannister vs Grant Chamberlain and although I thought Chamberlain was a slight chance, Bannister performed up to his recent form running away a convincing winner and moving into the next round.
This left us with the following match ups Josh Appleyard vs Steve Graf, Sam Springer vs Michael Sweeney, Gene Ayton vs Scott Summers & Robert McMullen vs Peter Bannister. Appleyard was convincing vs Graf, the game was never close and it would be Appleyard who had won his first state title in the fours that would now find himself in the last four of the Singles. Sweeney is sick of having the tag of sponsored entry in the Mad Dog Singles and wanted to prove to Springer that he belonged in that event. Sweeney would control the game easily and not allow Springer to put pressure on him, Sweeney to advanve to the Semis. Summers would lead 12-9 vs Ayton but it would be Ayton that would start to take control of the game leading 22-17 and taking the win. In the final match McMullen looked to be in control at 16-10 but Bannister would bring the score back to 16-16. The scoreline would stay close, 22-22 until Bannister would get to 24 first, leading 24-23. But McMullen would leap frog over him and take the win 25-24.
So it would be Appleyard vs Sweeney & Ayton vs McMullen. Only McMullen is a previous winner but Ayton did make the final last year, the other semi involving players not used to being this far into the draw. Appleyard was only 15 minutes away from forfeiting his 1st round encounter but now he found himself in the Semi Finals, maybe not the best superstition to follow going into the future! Appleyard would get a strong start leading 7-1 but it would then be Sweeney who would work back into the game, getting the score back to 6-8. Appleyard would not let Sweeney take the lead but at 16-16, this really was anyone’s game. Appleyard would keep his nose in front until Sweeney would take the lead for the first time at 20-19, could he steal this game from young “Pip”? Sweeney would not get past 20 as Appleyard would once again dominate the last few ends of his singles match. A final would await Appleyard and the chance to win two state titles for the week. Ayton would be the player in the other match who would take the early lead, jumping out to a 6-1 lead. McMullen would not let Ayton have things his own way, getting this back to level before taking the lead at 9-8. Now with his nose in front, McMullen was not going to allow Ayton back into this game. 13-10, 18-13, 21-17, McMullen was doing enough to look like the winner. At 24-18 McMullen was one shot away and get the shot he did. McMullen now has the chance to become a two time State Singles winner and a chance to win his 2nd title for the week after playing with Appleyard in the Fours.
So that leaves us with one game to go. Tomorrow will see the Pairs Finals played in the morning and the Singles Finals played in the afternoon, all at Rosny Park. Get along to the venue and see who will be crowned the champions! Good luck to all players!
By David Genford
