Deer Park’s hopes of back-to-back Bowls Victoria weekend pennant premier division titles remain alive.
After a disappointing first week of finals, the Parkers bounced back against Bundoora on Friday night in the preliminary final.
The Parkers though jumped out of the blocks and led 13-0 after six ends.
Bundoora got on the scoreboard in the seventh end and after 22 ends had managed to get the margin back to three.
From there Deer Park was able to get the margin back to eight after 23 ends. Throughout the rest of the match, Bundoora would bring the margin back under five before Deer Park would take it out again.
The Parkers were unable to break Bundoora which was still within four shots after 68 ends.
The margin was nine shots after 74 ends and Bundoora kept pushing, but fell short, losing 80 (12)-74 (6).
The Parkers won just one rink and it would end up being enough.
The deciding rink would be the one between Jay Bye-Norris and Josh Corless, with Bye-Norris winning 32-6 to guide his side into the grand final.
Matthew Baus’ rink lost 22-15. Aron Sherriff’s lost 22-16 and Ryan Tainton’s rink lost 24-17.
The Parkers who are looking to go back-to-back will face Moonee Valley in the grand final on Sunday at the Dandenong Club.
Moonee Valley won the semi final between the two sides after getting off to a strong start.
It was a good weekend for the Parkers with their second side claiming the division 2, section 1 title.
Facing Werribee in the grand final, Deer Park 2 won 76 (17)-64 (1).
Ray Morrissey’s rink won 20-19, Neil Smith’s rink finished 18-all, Paul Dorgan’s rink won 16-11, while Andrew Myers rink won 22-16.
The Parkers will be in division 1 next season.
They will also play in the section finals starting this weekend, as the overall division 2 winner is crowned.