Denison Blue avoid White scare as Wonthella Gold produce epic final rink to steal victory

Northampton grabbed just their second win of the season as they comfortably accounted for Mullewa in the sixth round of the Batavia League. Mullewa would have been confident going into the clash with an opportunity to grab a haul of points to keep themselves in touch with the top four. But they got off to a poor start in losing the opening rink by 14 shots as Allan Cragan skippering for just the second time this season led his side to a 29-15 win. It left Mullewa with an awful lot of ground to make up and it only got worse as they lost the second 21-16 to give up the match. They did at least manage to grab the final rink 20-15 to take something away from the clash, but it left them five points outside of on a day they could have moved into it had they taken the full six points. Denison Blue avoided a scare against their winless rivals Denison White thanks to a huge final rink led by Peter Leeson. White had just 2.5 points to their name coming into the clash and Blue would have eyes on potentially jumping into second, but any thought of an easy victory were wiped away after White took the opening rink 24-18. They pushed on to claim a tense second game 18-15 to give them an unlikely nine-shot lead heading into the final. But Leeson who has had a mixed season so far rallied the Blues to claim not only the final rink 25-11, but the final match by five shots and save their blushes. Geraldton Red crushed their intraclub rivals Geraldton Blue by 27 shots in a 3-0 sweep, the only team to take home the full six points on the weekend. They never looked back after taking the opener 26-19 winning the second 24-11 and the third 24-17 to jump into third place on the ladder. Wonthella Gold came out on top in a see-sawing tussle against Geraldton Gold as they improved their hold on first place. There was nothing to separate the two sides as they drew the opening rink 20-all, but it seemed Geraldton had grabbed hold of the match with a huge 27-12 win in the second rink. But the pendulum swung back hard the other way as William Alford led a Wonthella turnaround, smashing the final rink 37-14 and claim the match by eight shots. Wonthella Maroon were too good for their Green counterparts winning the first two rinks 21-15 and 22-11. Green did manage to claim the final rink 21-19 to grab a point but they fell outside of the top four to sit in fifth on 20.50 one point behind Denison Blue. In the women’s league, Geraldton blue crushed Maroon by over 40 shots but remarkably did not take full points as they lost the opening rink 20-19. They bounced back hard in the second with a 34-10 win and pushed on to claim the third 29-9 in a hefty boost to their percentage. The bottom-placed Northampton fell agonisingly short of a second win as they went down to Denison by a single shot despite winning the first and third rink. A second rink blowout 26-19 saw them trail by two heading into the final rink but could only take a one-shot victory as league leaders Dension just escaped with the match win.