Wonthella Gold knocked off top spot as Marron closes gap to Denison in women’s league

Wonthella Gold have been knocked off the top of the Batavia league ladder for the first time since the opening rounds as they suffered a shock loss to Mullewa on Saturday. After dominating the opening rounds of the season, Wonthella’s form has been indifferent in recent times and a poor final rink handed the match to their underdog Mullewa rivals. After losing the opening rink 16-19, Gold bounced back to take the second 25-19 and leave themselves with a three-shot advantage heading into the decider. But Mullewa turned to their best skip Murray Watt who led the side to a dominant final rink 23-12 as they took the match 61-53 to stay in touch with the top four. Geraldton Gold jumped at the opportunity left by their Wonthella rivals as they smashed Wonthella Maroon 83-40 and took home the full six points. They lead the ladder by one point despite winning one fewer game than those below thanks to rink points. Northampton came back from a rink down to win their clash over Denison Blue 63-50. They lost the opener 20-14 but managed to take a two-shot lead into the final rink after a 24-16 win in the second. There they outclassed Denison 25-14 to come away with a comfortable win and leave them just half a point outside the top four. Wonthella Green were too strong for their Geraldton Red opponents as they swept the series 3-0. The Red’s were off the pace in the first two rinks and though they threatened in the third fell short 25-22 and missed out on the opportunity to go top of the ladder. Geraldton Blue had a comfortable win over cellar dwellers Denison White though they were made to work hard in their final rink edging out the contest 19-18 to make sure they came away with the full points. The sweep leaves them with an outside chance of making the top four. The women returned to action after their break with Denison and Wonethalla Marron locked in a tight tussle with just two rounds to go. Maroon dominated Geraldton Blue never looking back after taking the opener 32-18 and completing a full sweep of the match. Denison had a hot-and-cold performance against Northampton. They dominated the first rink 32-12 before settling for a draw in the second at 20 shots apiece. They lost the final rink 22-14 though still took home match points thanks to the shots they picked up in the opener. Denison sits just 0.5 of a point clear of Maroon in first place on the ladder with their upcoming clash likely to serve as the decider of who takes out the top spot. At the local level, a good crowd turned out to see men and women pairs battle it out for the Wonthella Club Championships. Kim Cross and Keith Vince were not to be beaten taking the men’s title over Paul Walton and Paul Williamson after Williamson was a late inclusion to replace an unwell Mark Adams. In the ladies’ championship Margaret Kupsch and Sandra Brown beat the pairing of Pia Oliveri and Jill Dallas to take the title.