Swashbuckling Pirates plunder two finals spots
Club Pine Rivers men and women are both through to 2014 Champion of Club Champions PAIRS FINAL, taking on the country girls from Mareeba Memorial and Bundy’s Across the Waves boys. The women from Club Pine Rivers faced a tough third round before the final, playing Ipswich United Services, who had something to prove, having gone down in their previous two matches.
The girls from the west put up a strong fight against the north side girls, leading for most of the match, until Pine Rivers skip Dawn Denford pulled out the stops when she most needed it, swishing into the final undefeated by squeaking past the IUS girls, 24-20.
Linda Morish and Dawn Denford only gained the lead for Club Pine Rivers in the 18th end, taking four shots to storm through from three behind, to one up, and they never looked back to the end.
Although the Ipswich duo, Tinie Pearce and Marie Lipp, had everything going their way until that moment, they buckled under the determination and drive of the Pine Rivers team.
“We really tried hard until the last minute and it was close until the last few ends, Pine Rivers were deserving of the win,” Lipp said.
Pine Rivers will face Mareeba in the final this afternoon (Tuesday, 12:30pm).
Mareeba Memorial played Gwen Stubbs and Bronwyn Torrens from Monto, pushing through to win 24-12 after a slow start.
Club Pine Rivers will have a second chance at the silverware, as the men from North Brisbane also won their third round for a finals spot.
Paul Jopson and Kurt Brown played Indooroopilly and won with relative ease, 22-9.
Indooroopilly player Greg Rolls said jokingly “We were robbed!”
“We were playing against the outrageous favourites in the third round, and although we thought we had a good chance, they were way too good today,” Rolls said.
It was a sad day for the Indooroopilly players, who played their last game for Club Indooroopilly as it is is shutting down due to lack of funding.
Across the Waves from Bundaberg also won their section, beating South Johnstone by a mere one shot.
Daniel Stanton-Cook and Darren McCracken put in the hard yards in the final ends to come away with their victory.
Santo Raciti and Kevin Kiwi Deegan always put on a good show when they come to a state titles, a feather in the cap for a small club such as South Johnstone to keep winning rep changes at state level.
The finals are underway with the Pine Rivers teams up against worthy opponents, WOMEN Eileen Stevens and Sue Brady (Mareeba Memorial) v Linda Morish and Dawn Denford (Pine Rivers).
For the men, Paul Jopson and Kurt Brown (Pine Rivers) v Daniel Stanton-Cook and Darren McCracken (Across the Waves).
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