FINALS began last week in the Lower South East Bowls Association with the Open Midweek Pennant where Mount Gambier Red travelled across town to take on its rivals Mount Gambier RSL Red with the winner progressing through to the grand final.
The two best teams for the year produced an enthralling finals clash with the hosts claiming victory.
Mount Gambier’s Neil Blakey, Diana Harris, Kym Jones and Bryan Vorwerk rink in a thriller with the final score 24-23.
However, Mount Gambier RSL claimed a 26-20 win in the other rink which was enough to seal a 49-44 victory.
The Friday Division 2 women’s Pennant team travelled to Naracoorte to take on Beachport and returned home with a 46-40 win.
The rink of Helen Kentish, Deanna Farrenfield, Leanne Hentschke and Jane Calleja ensured the win with a 28-17 victory to cover the other rink which went down 18-23.
The win sets up a preliminary final clash with Robe to be played at Lucindale with the victor to meet Naracoorte in the grand final.
Saturday’s Open Pennant Division 1 semi-final clash between Mount Gambier Red and Mount Gambier RSL Red was played at the Mount Gambier RSL greens in perfect conditions in front of a big crowd.
The clash was tight early as the top two teams went toe-to-toe with the visitors taking an early narrow lead at the break.
After the break, some impressive bowling from Greg Carpenter helped his rink claim a comfortable 28-16 win.
Jim Philpott, Kristy Errock, Daniel Langdon and Brad Errock fought hard in their rink to claim a narrow 19-16 win.
However, despite wins in two of the three rinks, Mount Gambier fell short to its cross-town rivals as the hosts claimed a strong win in the third rink to seal a 66-63 victory.
The Reds will now face Millicent on their home green in the preliminary final with the winner to take on Mount Gambier RSL Red in the decider.
Margaret Marshall and Leanne Hentschke travelled to Penola recently and were claimed the Lower South East Champion of Champions Pairs for 2022-23.
They will now travel to Naracoorte to take part in the regional competition, while Greg Carpenter and Tony Bowditch were runners-up in the Champion of Champions Men’s pairs at Kalangadoo recently.
