Our under fourteens are celebrating their success at the recent South Suffolk U14 Rounders Tournament (hosted at Woodbridge), finishing as silver medallists from amongst the twelve in the competition, and thereby earning qualification for the County round, alongside fellow finalists Ipswich High.
It all started with three pool games: RHS – victory by 4 – 1½: great rounders scored by Harriet Petley, Freya Huxley (with an injured arm!), Joanne Garnett and Sarah Barker. Katie Bye took a stunning catch and there was some slick fielding by Harriet, Poppy Fletcher and Maud Peel; Stoke High – victory by 8-2 with almost all the team scoring and everyone fielding expertly; and East Bergholt B – victory by 11- 1½ with lots of excitement and Harriet and Freya scoring 2½ rounders each.
The three wins earnt a place in the semi-finals against Ipswich School. It was a close match with both teams trying to close the game down quickly. The fielding was intense and the pressure led to careless mistakes in the Ipswich bowling which gave Woodbridge 1½ rounders to beat (Katie Bye should be commended for her bowling in Sarah Barker’s absence). Then our girls hit some fabulous shots with Amy, Harriet, Joanne and Katie placing the ball far across the field. Woodbridge won the match convincingly 5-1½ .
The final against Ipswich High was fiercely contested: our girls fielded brilliantly, despite the opening ball which caused total confusion, and kept Ipswich High to 5 rounders. Up at bat, Woodbridge played well but could not quite get the ball over the Ipswich High girls’ heads so only managed to build a score in ½-rounders (though Harriet did manage to hit the ball over to the cricket pavilion!). Our girls fought to the end, but at the close had to settle for defeat by the narrowest of margins: 4½ to 5.
