Stanhope bowls fairytale almost complete

After winning its eighth game of the season on the weekend, and with second-ranked Tongala playing a tie with Echuca, Stanhope has a 15-point buffer on top of the ladder with one round remaining.

It would take a minor miracle for the team to be toppled from the top rung of the ladder.

In the final home-and-away match, it faces third-ranked Moama Steamers, which it lost to by 15 shots in November. That is the only time the teams have played this season.

Just one rink win would be enough to guarantee it top spot at the end of the season.

Its 75-58 (14-2) win against Mathoura on Saturday came on the back of another dominant display by Greg Fitzpatrick, John Patterson, Jono Thorne and Peter Myers.

They were 30-15 winners, following on from a four-shot win the previous week and a 21-shot round 11 rink victory. Fitzpatrick is now the fourth-ranked skip in the division one competition, behind Moama’s Robert Young (with a 10-1 win/loss record), teammate Ben Fletcher (9-2) and Brad Tinning (9-3).

Fitzpatrick and his team secured six three-shot end wins early and led by 19 shots after 15 ends. They lost the next five ends, but collected four shots on the last to put an exclamation point on the win.

Stanhope, in fact, has three of the top five skips, as Tim Hancock’s 8-4 record is good enough for fifth spot on the skip player ladder.

Hancock lost by one shot on the weekend, to Mathoura’s Mick Humphreys, while Fletcher won his game with Peter Pangrazio by three shots (25-22).

Fletcher picked up four shots on the opening end and then another five on the eighth, but by the 14th end led by just one shot in a see-sawing battle.

He surrendered the lead on the 16th end, but won three of the final four ends for his win.

Hancock led 9-nil after three ends of his match, collecting a pair of four-shot end wins. He maintained that lead until the 12th end when he dropped five shots and on the second last end dropped another four to surrender the lead for the first time in the game.

Despite taking shot on the final end he was beaten 20-21.

• Tongala has now suffered two heartbreaking results after losing on the last end of last week’s game against Mathoura and only managing a draw with fourth-ranked Echuca on Saturday.

All matches were brought forward due to the heat and the early start agreed with the Bulls. Brad Tinning led Steve Cunnington 21-4 after 11 ends, Glenn Fields picked a pair of four shots early in his game and Matt Liverton led by four on the remaining rink.

By the final bell, however, Echuca had bounced back with a spectacular second half to the afternoon and secured a draw — 61 shots apiece (Tongala taking nine of the 16 pennant points up for grabs).

Liverton dropped 16 shots in a horror six-shot run late in his game and was eventually beaten 16-22, while Tinning’s early domination was cancelled when Cunnington won eight of the last 11 ends.

That run was kick-started by a seven-shot haul for Cunnington on the 12th end and a 17-shot Tinning lead was cut to five with two ends remaining. He won the game 26-21.

Fields bounced back from the disappointment of last week by beating the skip regarded widely as the best bowler in the Campaspe Playing Area, Philip Thorn.

Thorn took four shots on the opening end, but Fields got them straight back on the second. The Tongala skip then secured nine shots on the next five ends and led by four.

By the 17th end, however, the pair were level and Fields managed a single shot return on the final end for his one-shot win (19-18).