The years’ tournament was held throughout the Latrobe Valley from Tuesday, March 19, to Thursday, March 28, with the finals held across Traralgon Bowls Club and Morwell Bowling Club on March 25-26.
Cassandra Millerick was awarded the Barb Gilbert medal for player of the tournament after logging wins in the women’s triples, along with Moama teammate Olivia Cartwright, and the women’s pairs.
“Honestly it went really well,” Millerick said.
“I picked the right people to play with I suppose.”
“Liv, throughout the whole (Open) she played very well.
“Always wanted her in my team.
“We work well together, she’s a very good draw bowler.”
Millerick also made it to the round of 16 in the women’s singles and was a quarter-finalist in the mixed pairs, teaming with fellow Steamer Kevin Anderson.
In the triples, Millerick (skip) and Cartwright (second) paired with Olivia Slade (lead) of Lilydale on their way to the title, but it wasn’t all smooth sailing for the trio.
They faced elimination in the round of 16, trailing 11-9 with just two ends to play, before scoring two shots on the 14th and a third on the 15th to scrape through by a single shot.
It was a more comfortable quarter-final and semi-final for the trio, including posting a 28-1 thrashing in the semi-final, but the final would be another tight affair.
A four-shot 12th end from their opponents, Margery Nathan and Jo Martin both of Paynesville, and Julie Simpson of Lakes Entrance brought the score to 13-12 in their favour with three ends remaining.
The 13th saw Millerick, Cartwright, and Slade score a two-shot advantage, before the opposing trio managed a single score on the 14 th, tying things up and leaving the match to be decided in the final end.
The Moama pair, along with Slade, scored a one-shot advantage in that crucial end, taking the title by the barest of margins 15 shots to 14.
“I drew two shots to get us in front by one,” Millerick said.
“Then, at the 14th, we dropped one, and then the last end, Liv (Olivia Cartwright) drew pretty much the absolute bowl to win that end and the game for us.
“It was very nerve-racking at that present time, considering the three bowls were all within about a foot of the Jack.”
In the pairs event, Millerick teamed with New Zealander and three-time Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Selina Goddard of Takapuna, who bowled lead for the pairing.
“I was looking for a team, and she (Goddard) asked me in the pairs, and well, I couldn’t say no to a New Zealand Commonwealth champion, a world champion,” Millerick said.
“She’s just such a beautiful person.
“She just drew perfect as a lead and then I just backed up going last.
“We just complement each other very well.”
The pair also endured some tough matches on their way to the championship, including turning around a late two-shot deficit in the quarter-final, scoring three on the final end to take the match by a single shot.
“On a couple of games, we were down a fair bit, we were very slow starters on the green we were on,” added Millerick.
“We were down five (then) we went longer with the end, so instead of playing like a short jack and mat we moved the jack to the ‘T’ (furthest position) and made it really long ends.
“Then we started getting bowls in the head and results started coming our way and then we just took off from there.”
In the ensuing rounds, things were slightly more comfortable, with Millerick’s pair securing a 12-8 victory over Sophie Kurzman of Club Sunbury and Samantha Atkinson of Richmond Union in the final.
Millerick’s round of 16 place was the best local result in the women’s singles while Matt Robertson, also representing Moama, made the last 16 in the men’s singles.
The partnership of Cameron Keenan and Kevin Anderson was cruelly eliminated by a single shot 13-12 in the men’s pairs semi-final, with the Moama duo teaming up with Bendigo’s Luke Hoskin to make the quarter-final stage in the men’s triples.
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