Weekend pennant another victim of the floods

At the time of writing, the immediate future of the Goulburn Murray Region pennant season is unclear. Many clubs throughout the region will be waiting to assess potential damage to greens and property.

Seymour Bowling Club greens remain flooded. Thank you to those members who moved equipment and machinery to safety before the flooding.

Midweek pennant Division one

Seymour hosted Hill Top in the opening match for the division and some strong performances saw the host win by 18 shots.

Max Hammond’s rink was a little slow out of the blocks before taking the lead and control of the match on the seventh end. It steadily increased the lead to a game-high 13 shots before coasting to an 11-shot win.

Ian Eichfuss’ rink also had a tardy start, winning only one of the first four ends before putting the foot on the gas and winning 10 of the next 12 ends to take a 14-shot lead after 16 ends. It finished with a comprehensive 17-shot win.

Things looked like going to plan for Graeme Flint’s rink when it led by four shots after 11 ends in a low-scoring game. Then a wheel fell off. No, make that all wheels fell off, including the spare. Seymour only managed to win two of the remaining 14 ends in a disappointing 10-shot loss. Seymour 14-73 d Tatura

Hilltop 2-55 Marg Locke, Dot Dillon, Bernie Dillon, Graeme Flint (s) 12 lost to R. Madill 22

Linda Brown, Bill Solomon, Dale Sellick, Ian Eichfuss (s) 33 d T. Downie 16

Jenny Ridd, Gail Krzciuk, Rob Baldwin, Max Hammon (s) 28 d S. Attwood 17

Division two

A strong East Shepparton was the visiting side and it was too good in two of the three rinks, winning by 16 shots overall.

Dennis Klein’s rink had a bit of a horror day. It was behind from the start, winning only eight ends in the 18-shot loss.

Bad starts were a theme for the day, including Allan Welsh’s rink, which fell eight shots behind after winning only one of the first six ends. It was 14 behind after 18 ends before restoring some pride, winning six of the last 7seven ends to reduce the final deficit to five shots.

Brushing off press speculation, Jan Wesselman’s rink returned to the winners’ list and salvaged some points for the hosts. In a tight match where the lead changed many times, Seymour broke the match open, winning seven consecutive ends from the 15th to claim a seven-shot win. Seymour 2-59 lost to East

Shepparton 14-75

Dilva Grattan, Ian Ridd, Wendy Hutton, Dennis Klein (s) 17 lost to K. Cox 35 Peter Smith, Lyn Meek, Don Prudden, Jan Wesselman (s) 23 d A. Hueston 16

Linda Rohde, Marie Maggs, Maureen Prudden, Allan Welsh (s) 19 lost to T. Rowe 24

Division four

Seymour hosted Shepparton Park, with the Parkers gong home with a two-rinks-to-one victory by six shots.

Lois White’s rink took confidence after scoring five on the seventh end to give it a three-shot lead in a low-scoring game. Sadly, this was the only highlight, with the home team only winning seven ends in total in its 10-shot loss.

Donna Syms’ rink showed glimpses of form and led briefly early before Shepp Park controlled the middle ends and built a 10-shot lead. Seymour finished well, winning four of the final five ends to reduce the deficit to seven at the finish.

Vin Hall’s rink again flew the Seymour flag. Winning four consecutive ends, Hall’s team took a nineshot lead after 10 ends and finished the job, eventually winning by 11.

Seymour 2-48 lost to Shepparton Park 14-54

Alice Hall, Noel Pianta, Pat Dawe, Lois White (s) 12 lost to H. Paul 22 Ron Ridd, Sonia Jones, Di Staples, Donna Syms (s) 14 lost to R. Bartley 21

Derek Blakeman, Sandra O’Sullivan, Nick Munari, Vin Hall (s) 22 d D. Freeman 11

— Jack

Avenel Midweek pennant

Three winning rinks, one draw and one narrow loss resulted in a successful day for Avenel Bowling Club in midweek pennant, with divisions three and five bringing home the points.

Division three

Avenel division three played Mooroopna Golf in round three, resulting in a resounding 1-84 to 2-60 win.

After losing the first two ends, Marion Gittus, Pam Pedder, Jenny Furletti and Geoff Hateley (s) gained the lead on the third end and led for the rest of the game. Two fives in a row after lunch consolidated a strong team win, 37-12.

Fay Hateley, Kate Donovan, Grace Kenworthy and Noel Slater (s) got off to a scintillating start, being up 12-zip after four ends. Mooroopna Golf answered back, winning the next five ends with singles. But Avenel’s solid start was enough to secure the win, 23-20.

Rusty Schwab, Ruth King, Dennis McGregor and Spud Furletti (s) were in a close game up until the halfway mark, being only two down on end 12. Then Mooroopna Golf found another gear and won six ends in a row, scoring 11 unanswered shots to accelerate to a 12-shot lead. On end 19, a six by Avenel followed by a five on the last end bridged the gap to only four shots down for the game, 24-28.

Division four In two thrilling games, Avenel’s division five won overall by two shots away against Mooroopna 13-35 to 1-33 in the first match of the new season.

Ruth Underwood, Norm Billingsley, Charlie Kemp and Graeme Toy (s) were in a close contest for the entire game, with scores being even five times in the new shorter 21-end game. Starting the last end one shot down, Avenel rallied and scored a three to cap off a thrilling win, 18-16.

Marg Harrison, Nyoli Bell, Graham Lewis and Glen Bell (s) were seven up on end 16 before Mooroopna came storming home, scoring eight to one over the last five ends to chase down Avenel, resulting in a drawn game, 17-all.

Weekend pennant

Divisions three and seven did not play round one due to major floods across the Goulburn Valley Playing Area.

Sunday’s chicken run was won by Ross, Snicker and Noel. This week, the event was sponsored by longtime generous supporter of Avenel Bowls Club, Kemps Homemakers of Seymour.

Club championship games entry forms are on the noticeboard. Members will need to cross their names off if they can’t play. This month’s mystery tea is to be held on Thursday, October 27. Please add your name to the list on the noticeboard if attending to assist the caterers.