Moama has ended its home-and-away Campaspe midweek division one season how it started 2021-22 and will face Echuca in a qualifying final next week.
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In the opening four rounds of the season the Moama team lost just two rinks and will be brimming with confidence for next week’s fourth showdown of the season.
Since losing to Echuca in round 13 the Moama team has secured successive wins against third-ranked Deniliquin and in Saturday’s final home-and-away round against finals aspirant Rochester.
Rochester needed to win the match and rely on Echuca beating Rich River in order to come from fifth and earn a call-up for the play-offs.
Neither of those scenarios eventuated, with Rochester losing 0-16 (34-85) to second-ranked Moama and Rich River winning just one rink in its 2-14 (55-65) loss to top team Echuca.
Echuca, Moama, Deniliquin and Rich River will be the finals combatants, the third and fourth-ranked teams limping into the finals series and appearing to make up the numbers only.
Deniliquin lost its final round match to bottom-ranked Mathoura 0-16 (39-82) and will have to front up this Friday for an elimination final bout with Rich River.
Echuca and Moama will contest the qualifying final, a spot in the grand final up for grabs. Followers of the midweek competition will be hoping for a repeat of the close round three match between Echuca and Moama, which was a one-shot win for Moama.
The other two meetings between the teams have been blow-outs for Echuca as it aims to win a fourth successive division one midweek title.
Marilyn Stephenson has ended the season as the top-ranked skip, claiming her 11th win of the season on Saturday against Rochester’s Kaye Barker.
She was a 36-5 winner, with Mary-Anne Spizer switching roles to play third for her rink and finishing the season as division one’s top ranked bowler.
Spizer finished with a 13-2 win-loss record for the season.
Cass Millerick returned to the skipping role for a 26-14 win against Jane McCallum, with Sandra Connolly completing the rout opposite Heather Curnick with an eight-shot win.
Echuca skips Roma Opie and Leica Roney were the top team’s two winning skips in its 10-shot win, Roney by six opposite Rich River skip Margaret Griffiths and Opie by five against Wilma Williams.
On the remaining rink it was a thrilling win for Rich River’s Elizabeth Easther, who won 16-15 against Kerryn Evans.
- Tongala has hit the headlines in the final round of matches for the division two midweek season and will go into next week’s elimination final with Rich River as favourite.
A 14-2 (74-47) win against second-ranked Echuca has left it third after the home-and-away season. Elaine Hocking’s rink was the difference in the result, a 24-shot win against Echuca’s Wilma Curnow.
She has an 8-5 record this season and is the seventh-ranked skip in the competition. A match between her and Rich River’s Noeline King would be worthy of a final.
King is the second-ranked skip of the division two competition with nine wins from the 14-week season.
Carol Cardwell, Tim Fraser, Ruth Lennie and Ellie Vanderburght, Tongala’s highest-ranked rink this season, was a 24-16 winner against Heather Trotter. On the remaining rink Echuca skip Marie Malone managed to get her team on the board with a five-shot win.
Rich River didn’t prepare for its finals campaign in the best fashion, losing by four shots to Rochester, who finished the season fifth.
Rochester was a 12-2 (52-48) winner, despite Lyn Moon being its only winning skip for the match. Her 12-shot win was enough to ensure the defeats of fellow Rochester skips Serena Sholl (to Margaret Young 15-22) and Carol Cakebread (by one shot to Noeline King) did not count in the final result.
Top team Moama warmed up for its Friday qualifying final match with Echuca by scoring a 17-shot win against Lockington on Saturday.
Moama won its match 14-2 (63-46) as Beverley Button picked up a 16-shot win and was supported with an 11-shot win by Bev Trengrove.
Trengrove finished as the competition’ stop skip courtesy of a 9-4 record for the season, marginally ahead of Rich River’s King.
In the remaining match Elmore finished its non-finals season with a 10-shot win against Ky Valley View.
- Tongala was unable to produce an upset result in the final round of the Campaspe midweek division three competition and ended its season with a loss to top team Moama Green on Friday.
A win would have allowed Tongala to overtake Mathoura, which has ended up fourth and will meet Deniliquin in an elimination final.
In the qualifying final the two Moama teams, Green and Red, will do battle.
Moama Green was a 45-29 (14-0) winner, Margaret Meulenkamp and Susan Abraham both scoring wins against their Tongala competition.
Abraham has finished as the top division three bowler for the season, with her third bowler Peggy Bell ranked second.
Deniliquin will go into the elimination final against Mathoura full of confidence after it was a 12-2 (39-26) winner.
Jo McArthur influenced the result with a 25-11 win against Mathoura’s Gayle Kerr. On the other rink it was a one-shot win for Mathoura skip Jenny Hicks, against Deniliquin opponent Caryn Hillier.
Kyabram Free Press and Campaspe Valley News editor