MILDURA’S pennant bowls sides faced stiff competition but gave a strong account of themselves in the battle for a state championship berth as the best teams in the region descended on Workers Bowls Club for the Murray Mallee Regional Pennant finals at the weekend.
The Magic outfits, who won both the Sunraysia playing area weekend and midweek pennant titles this season, finished third in both categories as Birchip and Murray Downs respectively won through to the Bowls Victoria State Pennant Championships.
Mildura’s first game on a scorching Saturday for the weekend pennant play-off came against Birchip, where they were locked in a 28-all draw at the conclusion of the contest.
The Mildura rink of Mark Eckel, Jayden Taylor, Lindsay Lynch and Butch Pollock earned a nine-shots-to-seven win, and Isaiah Bettess, Peter Ellis, Corey Bettess and Keith Sharman won their match-up 10-9.
However the three-shot-win for Birchip’s rink skipped by Kevin Reid against Ron O’Neil, Robert Hanns, Ken Capper and Chris Mitchell ultimately forced the opening stanza into a draw.
Birchip’s 39-35 win over Kerang in match number two meant the Mildura side needed to defeat Kerang by five shots under lights to secure the honours.
The North District/Murray Valley champions however didn’t read the script as they won the contest 42-34, giving Birchip top honours.
Mildura’s best result in the final match-up was a 14-all draw between O’Neil’s rinks and that of opposing skip Jason Wilson.
During Sunday’s midweek pennant finals, Mildura won one of their three matches as Murray Valley winner Murray Downs finished on top of the table.
North District champions Barham won the first contest against the Sunraysia side 42-39, however the rink of Isaiah Bettess, Rodney Johnstone, Peter Ellis and Lindsay Lynch had a 13-6 win.
Again it was only a few shots the margin in game two as Murray Downs took the honours 42-38, despite a 17-13 victory for Mildura’s Ken Yeowart, Robert Hanns, Frances Richards and Judy Osborne.
Mildura then enjoyed a big 72-33 win over Tyrell champions Woomelang, with the Bettess rink winning 24-8, the Yeowart rinks winning 21-10, and Mark Eckel, Glenys Yeowart, Corey bettess and Ken Capper winning 27-15.
