Championship finish for young Crieff stars
Family ties strengthen the form at Colinton Castle event
Crieff squash stars were in fine form at the Scottish Inter Regional Championships at the weekend.
Representing the Central Region in the Under 19 event, held at Colinton Castle in Edinburgh, were talented brother and sister pairing Jack and Maddie Orr.
The Strath siblings were forced to be switched on early in the competition after team- mates Robbie Harper and then James Dougan suffered defeats against the West.
But they were up to the challenge, both winning 3-0, to tie the match overall at 6-6 in games. On points countback, the West triumphed 107-102.
It was a blow for the central team but their sights were still firmly set on taking the title.
A busy Saturday afternoon witnessed fixtures against Tayside and Fife, Grampian and then East before a Sunday test with Highlands and Islands.
The Orrs were again producing the goods as Central stormed to a clean sweep, which was all the more impressive considering a late reserve was called into the team in Keir Mackenzie.
That set Sunday’s match up nicely with Central still in with a chance of lifting the trophy.
Against Highlands and Islands, Maddie ( 15) clinched a 3- 1 victory before Jack (17) recorded a comfortable 3-0 win.
There was another win within the team to leave an overall win in sight.
If West dropped points in their final match with Grampian then Central would be crowned champions.
It was a full spectator balcony for that match - and Grampian managed to snatch two 3-2 wins, resulting in West collecting 14 points for the match.
Central, incredibly, won by one game/point.
Team captain Susan Anderson said: “Everyone played a huge part in that match, and thanks must go to Phil McWilliams, the Central coach, for coaching all the teams through their matches.
“And also the parents and club coaches for supporting the players and teams.”
Other results were: Under 11s came third - Florence Gibson ( playing at two) and Euan Earnshaw ( playing at four) from Crieff making their debuts.
Under 13s came fourth - Jamie Cargill (playing at one) and Anna Halliday (playing at four) from Crieff in the team.
Under 15s came third - Lucy Murchie from Crieff (playing at one).
Under 17s came fifth - Ben Orr (playing at 1) and Finn Martin (playing at 3) from Crieff.
Meanwhile, Strath’s Jamie Cargill and Anna Halliday are heading off to play in the Croatian Junior Open in the first weekend of May.
Maddie Orr, Lucy Murchie and Ben Orr will next month be representing Scotland at the European Team Championships in Prague.