Just one weekend after experiencing the joyous high of reaching the semi finals of the national triples championship the Balbardie IBC trio of Kim Ross, Sharon Leitch, and Lorraine Malloy felt the extreme pain of disappointment at making a cruel exit in the indoor bowls Scottish Fours.
Read moreJoined by Catherine Lochran at second the rink skipped by Malloy shaped up strongly in the playdown action at the West Lothian/Bainfield venues with a mixture of massive and commanding wins over East Lothian, Fintry, and Midlothian taking them into the section final. One more win would take the Balbardie challengers from Bathgate into the Last Four stage of the championship at Lanarkshire IBC on the weekend of March 28 but standing in their way was the Teviotdale rink of Betty Gibson, Ruth Jones, Joyce Dickey, and Julie Forrest. All looked fine and dandy for Glasgow 2014 internationalist Malloy and her front-three having continued to impress with another sound performance to look destined for victory with a 10 shot lead establishing their authority. But Teviotdale had also reached the section final in impressive style via good wins over East Fife and Cumbernauld and in Forrest were under the direction of a legend figure soon to be competing for a seventh title triumph in the Singles and winner of 54 caps. Forrest and Co duly fought their way back into contention but it still looked a lost cause facing a three shot deficit going in to the final end however it was a miracle of Christmas that the Border outfit escaped tp victory with a mighty count of five to win 21-19. “It was a good five for them but a bad one for us and it left us devastated that with the stakes as high as they were we had blown a commanding double figure lead and also failed to defend our winning position at the last end”, reflected Leitch for Balbardie. Balbardie had opened their campaign with an astonishing 38-5 demolition of East Lothian in the prelim round and having followed up with a 24-14 win over Fintry then produced a brilliant performance to beat Midlothian giants Shona Johnstone, Grace McGergor, Jeanette Conlan, and Sandra McLeish, 19-12. McLeish was chasing a sixth title success in the event and had made an encouraging start to crush Sheena White, Ella Brydon Jackie Ormiston, and Marie Todd of Tweedbank, 24-6, and Charlotte Somerville (skip) of Headwell, 21-4. Meanwhile the Bainfield rink of Karen Timberley, Beatty Eaton, Lily Murray, and Marion Dickson walked over against Cowal in the prelim round at Whiteinch (Glasgow) but then suffered a 28-6 defeat from East Kilbride. And they were joined on the first round sidelines by the West Lothian IBC rink of Crina Docherty, Irene Wright, Carole Clarkson, and Margaret Russell who lost 31-11 to Ardrossan. The semi final line up reads, Teviotdale v Galleon, and Auchinleck v Elgin