BOWLING conditions were tough for all competitors in the Lower South East Bowling Association’s recent round of Saturday Open Pennant competition with the wind playing a huge part.
Division 1
Mount Gambier RSL Red 83/14 d Port MacDonnell 61/2
MOUNT Gambier RSL Red travelled to Port MacDonnell and was satisfied with a solid 22-shot victory.
Little separated the sides around the half-way mark on the game, but a particularly strong performance on Graham Ellis’s rink after the break sealed the game for RSL Red.
Playing Peter Bruhn, Barb Milstead, Marcus Pietersma and Heather Richards (skip), the RSL’s Jamie Lambert, Ralph Stafford, Michael Fox and Ellis (skip) took complete control of their game from the 14th end and built a match winning 36-14 result.
Jason Kuring, Peter Roachock, Neil Tobin and Rex Heins (skip) pulled 10 shots in front of Joy Bilney, Greg Fisher, Bill Richards and Adam Wilson (skip) after the break, then survived dropping a three and five to win 26-23.
Robert Corner, Deane Wilkinson, Chris Waugh and Andy Ashby (skip) were under pressure throughout their game against Wally Tarca, Judy Grosvenor, David Gould and Chris Richards (skip).
Their score was helped by a six and four in an otherwise uncharacteristically bleak outing.
Mount Gambier Red 72/12 d Mount Gambier RSL Blue 68/4
SHOWING that Mount Gambier RSL Blue can keep up with the best Division 1 sides in the competition, it fell just four shots shy of a victory against Mount Gambier Red.
The RSL Blue side won two of the three rinks against their highly fancied opponent in tough weather conditions.
Playing at home, Tim Wrightson, Ian MacIntosh, Gary Feast and Strawb Masters (skip) had a strong run mid-game and held on to defeat Gary McIntyre, Gary Hocking, Peter Radley and Tony Bowditch (skip) 23-22.
Gary Bowering, Fiona Pearson, Greg Whitehead and Ron Ploenges (skip) led John Reppin, Bryan Vorwerk, Peter Reppin and Greg Carpenter (skip) in the first half.
After the tea break, Carpenter’s team had a run of scoring and pulled five shots in front.
However, Ploenges’ four rallied, winning five of the last seven ends -including two five’s – to finish in front 27-23.
Dougie McPhail, David Edwards, Ben Masters and Glenn Wright (skip) had a tough game against Rebecca Gruer, Terry Bruhn, Brad Errock and Tony Renzi (skip).
They were unable to string consecutive ends together to put pressure back on the Mount Gambier team and went down 18-27.
Division 2
Mount Gambier RSL Red 67/14 d Millicent 62/2
THE clash between Mount Gambier RSL Red and Millicent certainly lived up to expectations when the two sides met at the RSL club.
The combined scores were close throughout the day, but the RSL Red side was happy to take the points at the end of play.
Paul Griffiths, Graeme Smith, Graham Dent and Ian Moulden (skip) managed to get on top of David Crase, Andrea Radley, Phil Dowdell and Derek Bowering (skip) for a solid 27-19 victory.
Simon Attiwill, Gary Fox, Ron Edlington and Wayne Legutko (skip) had to play from behind all game against Carleen Godden, Chris Earl, Andre Reinders and Steve Carnellor (skip).
Legutko’s four kept in tough throughout the game, but were unable to score in numbers and as a result went down 19-23.
After leading for most of the game, Maryke Heaver, David Anderson, Bob Milligan and Noel Miller (skip) saw their seven-shot lead eaten up in the closing ends against David Reichelt, Paul Weir, John Buhlmann and Peter Varcoe (skip).
With scores 20 all on the last end and down in the head, Bob Milligan put in two excellent bowls to hold on 21-20.
Mount Gambier RSL Blue 79/16 d Mount Gambier 48/0
MOUNT Gambier RSL Blue enjoyed its second win of the season when it defeated Mount Gambier.
All three rinks led from start to finish and shared the success.
John Forster, Graham Wilson, Rick Fallaize and Karen Doman (skip) defeated Darryl Raneberg’s four 22-13, while John Heaver, David O’Donnell, Harry Childs and Zac Pearson (skip) had the upper-hand against Peter Clark’s team to win 29-21.
John Robinson, Jim Cruise, Malcolm Williamson and John Spehr (skip) had the better of Perrier Davis’ four and doubled their score, 28-14 to contribute solidly to the overall victory.
Division 3
Mount Gambier RSL Red 83/16 d Mount Gambier RSL Blue 52/0
MOUNT Gambier RSL Red easily accounted for its sister Blue side on the weekend.
On each rink, the Blue teams had their moments, but were unable to cause any upsets, going down by a convincing 31 shots.
