Close battle between top two
Neerim District played a closely fought game against Traralgon two in the battle between first and second on the division two ladder.
Neerim had the home advantage, but it was Traralgon who prevailed by two shots.
Division two: Neerim District lost to Traralgon (2) 99/101.
Peter Throup (skip), Peter Brooks, Gerry Engelstad and Colin McKay lost to G. Cross’ team 25/32.
Neerim bolted from the blocks to be 13/0 after three ends. Traralgon came to terms with conditions and battled hard, but Neerim led 18/10 on the 11th end.
The 12th proved a disaster for Neerim when they dropped a seven. Traralgon finally hit the front on the 17th and won five of the last eight ends to run out seven-shot winners.
Shane Hogan (skip), Neil Adams, Rob Cook and Julie Adams lost to G. McRonald’s team 14/31.
Neerim had a slow start, down 0/10 after five ends. They clawed back to trail by two on the 11th end. Traralgon powered away, winning 11 of the remaining 14 ends to win by 17 shots.
Ray Watts (skip), Jim Fallon, Tom Goodwin and Greg Bond defeated G. Cole’s team 25/19.
Neerim jumped out to lead by nine shots at the eighth end. They extended the lead to 11 by the 20th end. However, Traralgon hung in to win four of the next five ends. Neerim held on to win by six shots.
Angus McGillivray (skip), Pat Fraser-Aurisch, Chris Hogan and John Rochford defeated W. Bishop’s team 35/19.
Neerim had a good start, up by 12 shots on the eighth end. Scoring was even until Neerim picked up a six on the 17th. They led by 14 at the 20th.
Traralgon won the next three ends, but Neerim finished strongly - picking up six over the last two ends - to win by 16 shots.
Division five: Neerim District (2) defeated Moe (3) 106/44.
Tony Thornton (skip), Gerald Winter, George Rymer and Di Tame defeated I. Caine’s team 23/20.
Neerim started well and led by 10 at the sixth end. Scoring from then on was even with Neerim holding the 10-shot lead on the 17th.
Moe won six of the remaining eight ends but fell short by three shots.
Russell Meehan (skip), Jim Schroeder, Kay Cousins and Gerry Melling defeated W. Lock’s team 51/7.
Neerim came out of the blocks like Usain Bolt and led 20/0 by the sixth end. Things didn’t get much better for Moe as they only managed the occasional one or two. In excellent form, Neerim won by an astounding 44 shots.
Bruce Mironow (skip), Thelma Schroeder, Liz Hodge and Neville Cousins defeated V. Grithith’s team 32/17.
Moe got a one on the first end, but Neerim won the next six ends to lead by 11. Moe cut the margin to six on the 11th end but Neerim consolidated and picked up a six to lead by 19 on the 17th end. Moe won the next three ends, but Neerim won by 15 shots.
Division one: Neerim District lost to Morwell 42/86. Neerim was hoping for a good result, but the windy conditions and speed of the green found them wanting. Pat Fraser-Aurisch (skip), Liz Hodge, Russell Meehan and Gerry Melling lost to Robyn Fox’s team 15/26.
A terrible start saw Neerim down 1/14 after eight ends. A five on the ninth end made the score more respectable, but Morwell won six of the next seven ends to lead 25/7.
To their credit, Neerim fought to the end and won four of the last five ends to go down by 11.
Karen Sheers (skip), Cookie Halligan, Marion Willis and Gerry Engelstad lost to Hillarie Anstey’s team 19/26.
Neerim battled hard after a slow start, levelling on the ninth end. Morwell kicked away to lead by five on the 13th before Neerim hit the front by two on the 17th.
However, Morwell picked up 11 shots over the next three ends. Neerim won the last two ends but went down by seven.
Thelma Schroeder (skip), Di Tame, Kay Cousins and Jim Schroeder lost to Glenda Thompson’s team 8/34.
Neerim won the first end, but it was a tough day from then on. They only won six of the 21 ends with heavy losses on five ends doing the damage in a 26-shot loss.
The final of the regional women’s singles was played at Meeniyan Bowls Club recently between Robyn Dennis from San Remo and Pat FraserAurisch from Neerim District.
Robyn was seven up on the card before Pat managed to score. However, once again, Pat managed to come back into the game and equalled Robyn on eight shots.
The game thereon was very close, with only one shot the difference on most ends until both women were on 18 shots each.
Robyn then eased away with a break of four. The penultimate end went to Robyn and she went on to win 25/18.