THERE were changes at the top of the ladders in sections two and three after the second half of the North Gippsland bowls pennant season began on Saturday.
In section one, Heyfield and Stratford played out a draw at Heyfield, Maffra got up over Yarram by four shots away, Sale White remains on top after its victory over Sale Blue, while Sale Golf defeated Rosedale.
Yarram replaced Sale White on top of section two after its big win over Maffra and Sale Blue’s one-shot victory over White in the local derby.
In other games, last-placed Sale Golf had a four-shot victory at Stratford, and Heyfield defeated Wurruk at home.
Maffra leads Sale White by one point in section two after its come from behind win over White at Sale. Being multiple shots down at the afternoon break, Maffra fought back to get over the line by seven shots.
Yarram Green dropped two places to fourth with its loss to Sale Blue, which has moved up to third. Yarram Gold defeated Heyfield and Rosedale dropped from fourth to sixth on the ladder after losing to Stratford.
MATTHEW Higgins won the North Gippsland state singles qualifier at Heyfield on Sunday.
Higgins defeated Sale Golf’s Wayne Morris 25 shots to 19 in the semi-final. The final became an all-Sale affair after Rob Davies defeated Heyfield’s Rohan Kelly 25-18 in the other semi-final.
In the final, Higgins defeated Davies 25-10 to advance to the Gippsland region play-off, to be played in February at Bairnsdale.
THE finals of the state over 60s pairs championships were played at Bairnsdale on Wednesday and Thursday.
The men’s and women’s events each attracted 16 pairs from across the state.
The men’s championship was taken out by David Wells and Brian Scott of Warrnabool, who defeated Torquay’s Daryl Kitchin and Alan Simpson 12 shots to 11 in the final.
The women’s championship went to Glen Waverley’s Audrey Hele and Patty Whorlow, who had a 22-13 victory over Yarrawonga pair Anne Miles and Joy Johnson.
The Gippsland region’s representative in the men’s event, John Lewis and John Kool, went out in the quarter-finals to the eventual runners-up Kitchin and Simpson.
Marge Menner and Kate Nock, the Gippsland women’s players, went down in first round to Newport’s Brenda Prismal and Janet Haygarth.
