Although not the classic summer’s evening that is associated with rounders, it was good enough for the district tournament to go ahead as scheduled. It was a little chilly, but the heat of the competition kept the girls warm and focussed.
Harrow Way opened their account with a 7½ – 4 victory against Testbourne. This was an enjoyable match with both teams playing good rounders. It was also played in good spirit. Harrow Way managed to hit half rounders many times but knew that the half’s needed to become whole rounders in future matches.
Next up was Test Valley and this again was another good game but Harrow Way’s hitting proved too strong in this match despite some flashes of brilliance from the Test Valley deep fielders. The final score was 7 – 3 to Harrow Way.
The penultimate match saw Harrow Way play The Clere, who were a bit of an unknown quantity to us. Although closely contested, Harrow Way’s fielding became sharper and they restricted the opposition to just 3 rounders. Hollie Kruppa took a super catch in deep field to catch out their most dangerous hitter. Laura Gilbank, captain and back stop, did an excellent job of directing her team and instructing them where best to throw the ball to restrict the opposition’s scoring.
Finally, a real local derby, Harrow Way v Winton. Harrow Way were in a different class and restricted the opposition to just ½ a rounder. This was excellent and testament to their slick fielding. Although they got off to a slow start with the bat, they soon stepped up to the mark and managed to score 5 rounders.
It was good to see Steph Boulton make her debut for the team and she took a great catch in from the deep field to stump out Winton’s batter from scoring a certain rounder.
Some other notable good performances came from Steph Jackson at second base, managing to cancel out many half rounders, and Cathy Murray, who bowled very consistently.
Anna Bazonni proved what an alert fielder she is by catching out a few batters who tried to steal bases and instructing her team of this so that they could stump them out.
Harrow Way are the best All-rounders and are undefeated. Another fine result from a great set of sports women.
Team: Cathy Murray, Laura Gilbank (Capt), Kim Willis, Steph Jackson, Charlotte Knoghts, Katie Woolf, Steph Villiers, Anna Bazzoni, Hollie Kruppa and Steph Boulton