Decorated Moama lawn bowler Marilyn Stephenson has had another outstanding start to the season, dominating the Campaspe midweek division one competition of the Bendigo Campaspe Goldfields Bowls Region.
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Stephenson, alongside Cass Millerick and Sandra Connolly, has led Moama to a dominant start, dropping just one of its six matches this season.
Stephenson is unbeaten in all six rounds, her closest call coming in a 19-18 win against Rich River skipper Elizabeth Easther in the final round before the Christmas break.
That defeat, amazingly, came against bottom-of-the-ladder Rochester in round five of the home-and-away season, which will now adjourn until Friday, January 7.
In spite of Stephenson and Connolly both winning their rinks, against Helen Holzer and Jane McCallum respectively, the heavy defeat of Millerick to Kaye Barker cost the team the win.
It has been Millerick’s only hiccup of the season so far, losing 9-31 to Barker. Her team of Jayde Campbell, Margot Brennan and Vern Rehe couldn’t match it with Rochester on the day.
Rochester won that round five match by two shots, 55-53, Barker combining with Peter Holzer, Kevin Hall and Jenny Major for the result.
Rochester sits 76 pennant points behind ladder-leading Moama — on the bottom rung of the ladder — with just the one win, but its past two weeks have been large improvements on early season results.
Moama has a 22-point advantage on top of the six-team competition’s table, leading from Echuca and Deniliquin.
Stephenson’s results this season have seen her allow no skip more than 19 shots in opposition to her rink of Mary-Anne Spizer, Colleen Maslen and Ronald Bunting, which has been an unchanged line-up all season.
In a match befitting the teams’ current ranking, just one shot separated Moama and Echuca in round three earlier this year, with Moama winning 54-43. Millerick and Stephenson were both winners, but Echuca skip Leica Rooney almost stole the match for her club with a 23-10 win against Sandra Connolly.
Rooney has been a match-winner on at least two occasions this season as Echuca has only suffered losses at the hands of Moama and third-ranked Deniliquin.
It was in that Deniliquin match, the opening contest of the season, that she suffered her biggest defeat of the season — 9-21 to Linda Harris.
Roma Opie has probably been the most consistent of the Echuca skips, despite missing one round where Pat Schram took on the skip’s role. Opie has lost to Deniliquin’s Joanne Bovell and Stephenson, but won her remaining three matches.
Rochester leads the Campaspe midweek division two competition after suffering just one loss for the season.
It is one of only two clubs to have played all six games, alongside sixth-placed Rich River, as their game was the only one not washed out in the opening round of competition.
Rochester won the match 55-51 and has only had one loss since, by two points to third-ranked Deniliquin when wins for skips John Weeks and Brian Jones were not enough to give it the win.
On the remaining rink that week, Deniliquin skip Linda Harris was a 26-14 winner against Leigh Milgate to ensure the Deniliquin win.
• Rochester’s division two ladder-leading team has used seven skippers this season, the only constant being Brian Jones. He has won four of his six matches.
Don Gillies has been a revelation in the past two rounds for the team, winning 28-8 and 24-18 in successive wins against Echuca’s Ian Whiting and Moama’s Alan Jones, who before the weekend had lost only once this season.
There have been some big blowouts in the weekend division two competition this season, with Tongala suffering 82-38 and 94-37 defeats at the hands of Echuca and Rochester.
Moama, ranked fourth on the ladder, was a 99-33 winner in a round five match this season.
Echuca skip Stephen McCartney has been the pick of his club’s division two skips, combining with Pat Schram, Frank Gumbleton and Colin Berryman on most Saturdays for four wins from five outings.
Ian Whiting has three wins from his five outings, with Wally Fehring returning a 50-50 split from his season so far.
Moama has used seven skips to date, with Geoff Halden the next most consistent performer next to Alan Jones.
Halden has suffered one defeat from his three outings, but has won his remaining two matches with a combined scoreline of 71-35.
• Campaspe midweek division two ladder-leader Moama is unbeaten at the top of the ladder and in the last round of the season before the Christmas break dominated second-placed Echuca.
Moama won the Friday contest 73-33 and is now seven points clear of Echuca, who before the weekend was unbeaten. Moama remains the only undefeated side in the eight-team competition, which spreads from Kyabram to Lockington and from Elmore to Moama.
In round five, Moama beat third-placed Rich River 89-38 to underline its domination of the competition.
Moama skips Bev Trengrove, Elisa Bennett and Denise Pappin all picked up the rink points, with Bennett particularly dominant against Heather Trotter.
Bennett won the contest 33-5, supported by Trengrove’s 20-14 result against Wilma Curnow and Pappin’s 29-14 win against Echuca’s Marie Malone.
Bennett has only lost once this season, to Rich River’s Pam Hayes 15-18.
But it is Bev Trengrove who has had the outstanding season, losing only to Rochester’s Lynette Moon in round four. She has won all four of her remaining games after the round one washout.
Pappin produced the most extraordinary result of the season with a 42-5 win over Rich River’s Anne Stiles in round five.
Third-ranked Rich River has used five skippers this season, with Noelene King the most regular to appear at division two midweek level.
She has won three of her five matches this season, including a 30-12 result in tandem with Heather Freeman, Marie Arthurson and John James against Tongala’s Joy Makepeace.
• Moama is undefeated in Campaspe weekend division three competition after six rounds, 28 pennant points clear of Lockington and even futher ahead of Mathoura in the eight-team competition.
In the round one match between Moama and Lockington, the former was a 72-46 winner, a 33-12 result from Peter Walton, Michael Bakof, Ian McGregor and Ian Hamill carrying the side to victory.
Moama skip Roy Jackson had his only hiccup of the season that weekend when he was beaten by Lockington’s Leanne McInness.
Jackson, Kelly Norris, Nathan Beecroft and Michael Ovens have combined to win their remaining four matches of the season.
Walton has suffered only the one defeat, early in the season against Rochester’s Gerard Browne.
• Rich River and Rochester lead the charge for top spot on the Campaspe weekend division four competition ladder after six rounds and entering the Christmas break.
They both have 59 points and are three clear of Moama Red (56) and Echuca Blue (51), in what is the closest competition of the weekend divisions.
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