In the West Cumbria Badminton League, ladies section Cockermouth were on the road to Egremont to take on Seascale 2.
The away side had some key players returning to their team after the home loss to Marchon.
The first round of games were tight affairs with the home side of Rona Daniels/Rachel Hamilton taking on Cal Williamson/Olivia Harrison, and it was the away pair who were the eventual winners, 21-14, 18-21, 21-15.
In the other game, the new WCBL treasurer Holli Coulthard partnered with Kirsty Park and managed to overcome the home pair of Tara Stewart/Katie Dawson, 21-18, 21-16, giving Cockermouth a 2-0 advantage.
In the next round of games, Daniels/Hamilton managed to get Seascale’s first point on the board, winning 21-12, 21-13 against Coulthard/Park.
However the other game went the way of Cockermouth, with Williamson/Harrison overcoming Stewart/Dawson 21-10, 21-4. Cockermouth just needed one more point for victory, and they managed to better that by taking both the final games.
Williamson, partnered by Coulthard, won 21-15, 21-9 against Daniels/Stewart and Harrison/Park won 21-11, 21-13 against Hamilton/Dawson, to take a 5-1 victory home with them.
Marchon thirds met Marchon seconds in the Peeney Cup and it was the first match so far in the competition.
It was the third team who had the advantage of the handicap start, with a 50-point head start over their second team who were finalists last season.
The home team started well in their first end. The elegant and speedy Matt Branthwaite, playing with Issy Ritchie in her first mixed game, just narrowly lost out 18-21 against the experienced John Le Jeune/Yvonne Wilkinson.
The away team soon picked up in the second end winning 21-9.
However, the second pair of, last-minute lifesaver Kamran Billah (in for Connor Wright) playing with Katie Ritchie in also her first mixed game had mixed fortunes going down 6-21 against Matt O’Sullivan/Becka Steven.
In the second end they turned it around, however, to come away with a 21-18 victory.
The way the Peeney Cup works is on points. Pairs only play two ends but the final result comes down to how many points are won so every one counts.
In the next round of games, Branthwaite/I. Ritchie took an end from the second team, 21-13, but then narrowly lost out in the second end 15-21 to O’Sullivan/Steven.
Le Jeune/Wilkinson proved too strong for Billah/K. Ritchie, winning 21-13, 21-5 but with home team getting 21 in some ends, it was still all to play for going into the changeover games.
In the end the Second team’s experience pulled them through.
Le Jeune/Steven won 21-13, 21-10 against Billah/I. Ritchie, and with Branthwaite running out of steam, he and K. Ritchie lost out 21-9, 21-12.
It meant that Marchon 2 won the tie 241-202 and progress to the next round to play either Cockermouth or a repeat of last year’s final against Marchon 1 which is played next week.
In the Ladies League Seascale 2 took on Seascale 1.
The firsts turned out with some of their experienced players back after missing their first game against Marchon Ladies.
The first game saw the second team pair of Rachel Hamilton/Tara Stewart taking on Lucy Carver/Sue Alderson, with the first team proving too strong, winning 21-15, 21-12.
The other game saw the home side Katie Dawson/Abi Smith losing out 6-21, 12-21 to Pam Douglas/Liz Priddle.
The away side came away winners in the next two games proving too strong once again.
This time Douglas/Priddle won 21-8, 21-6 against Hamilton/Stewart, and Carver/Alderson won 21-13, 21-15 against Dawson/Smith.
In the changeover games, it was business as usual for the away side, with the 1st team being too strong for their 2nd team, with wins for the auntie/niece pairing of Douglas/Carver, against Hamilton/Dawson, 21-17, 21-10, and then same again from Alderson/Priddle up against Stewart/Smith, with a 21-6, 21-13 win.
It gave Seascale 1 a 6-0 victory but there were some creditable scores for the 2nd team.
In the Mixed League there was a clash of the titans and it didn’t disappoint.
Last year’s Mixed One champions Marchon 1 took on the former multi mixed 1 champions, Abbeytown.
It had it all – net cords, fall-overs, screams, swearing, lots of sweating, more swearing and shouting, but it wouldn’t be a good match without all of the above.
Marchon created two new partnerships this season, firstly with Graham Robinson/Annie Ashburner who were up against Abbeytown’s Rob Jefferson/Lorraine Graham, with the away team managing to come out winners 21-18, 21-15.
The other game saw the other new partnership of Gary Park/Zoe Bettinson taking on the stalwarts for Abbeytown Neal Blair/Jos Cole, and it was the new partnership coming out on top this time, 21-11, 21-16, to make it 1-1.
In the next round of games, Robinson/Ashburner stepped it up and proved too strong for the away side, overcoming Blair/Cole 21-8, 21-9.
In the other game Park/Bettinson took the first end 21-19, but it was the experienced partnership of Jefferson/Graham who took the next two ends, 21-12, 21-11.
It meant at 2-2 it was all to play for going into the changeover games. Park/Ashburner were up against the experienced Blair/Graham rolling back the years once more and it was the away side who proved too strong, taking the game in 2 ends, 21-15, 21-10.
Abbeytown knew they were at least coming away with a draw but wanted to take the win on away territory.
The last game saw Robinson playing with last year’s partner Bettinson, up against Jefferson playing with Cole.
The first end didn’t go to plan for the home side, with Abbeytown causing an upset, with a 21-16 win.
The home pair knewg they needed to win to give their side a draw and keep their chances of reclaiming the title alive. Indeed the Marchon pair came out all guns blazing, and managed to win the remaining two ends 21-10, 21-6.
It produced a 3-3 result and still all to play for this season. Looking forward to the return fixture already.
In the Men’s League Solway 2 were looking to bounce back from their defeat to Marchon with a trip down the coast to Seascale.
It turned out to be an epic battle between the two sides, with four of the six games going to three ends and other games going to 22-20 in places.
Up first was Richard Earl partnered by Andrew White, taking on the Solway 2 pair of Malcolm Crow/Andrew Tang.
The home pair, eventually came out winners in a close battle, 22-20, 21-15. The other match on court saw an epic battle and the first of the three enders. James O’Hanlon/Richard Smith took on the two Stevens, Murphy and Kelley.
The Solway pair took the first end 21-19 in a close fought game, However Seascale battled on to take the 2nd end, 21-14, and the 3rd end was a close affair, with the home side eventual winners, 21-19, giving them a 2-0 lead.
Next up were Earl/White to take on Murphy/Kelley, with the home side keeping it consistent with the scoring, winning 21-15, 22-20.
The next battle once again included O’Hanlon/Smith, this time up against the away pair of Crow/Tang.
The first end went the way of the away side 21-13, but the home team battled back once again to take the second 21-14, but the Solway 2 pair managed to power through and take the 3rd end and claim Solway 2’s first point at 21-17.
Seascale led the match 3-1 going into the last two games, both of which were three enders and could have gone either way. First up White/O’Hanlon took on Crow/Kelley.
The Solway 2 side took the first end 21-16, and Seascale won the second end, 21-17, then the third and final end was all to play for.
It was the Solway 2 side who managed to edge it just, 22-20, meaning they took the match to 3-2 in favour of Seascale with the last game to play.
In that final clash the two Richards – Earl and Smith took the first end against Tang/Murphy, 21-15, but the 2nd end was whiskers away from their grasp, with the visitors winning 21-19 to set-up a final third end of the night.
It was Earl and Smith who managed to hold on, winning 21-15, and claiming Seascale’s first win of the season, 4-2.
