Stawell Blue has finished as minor premiers in the Grampians Bowls Division following the final round before finals on Monday.
The Blue team was dominant against Ararat VRI Red away and collected 10 points from the match away from home after defeating Red 75 shots to 58.
I Helmich spoiled the party after she prevented a clean sweet with a three-shot win against Rita Pyke 22-19.
Ararat VRI Green finished off its year on a high with a comfortable win against Stawell Golf Pink.
The Pink team had already guaranteed a spot in the finals and fell to the home team by 28 shots.
L Neil led her team to the biggest win of the match courtesy of a 28-12 scoreline against E Reid.
B Hurley got within four shots of N McDonald in the closest rink of the match.
Stawell Golf Purple claimed its spot in the top two after it defeated Ararat 75 shots to 66.
The nine-shot win gave the visitors 10 points with R Hatton the only Purple player to drop a rink.
Chalambar had a rare win for the year against Aradale to collect eight points on the back of Colleen Wilkinson’s performance where she won her rink by 10 shots to give the home side the win despite dropping two rinks.
Wilkinson’s win was not enough to lift her team off the bottom of the ladder and finished the season with 54 points and a negative shot differential.
Stawell Gold also ensured its season continued into the finals with a two-shot win against Lake Bolac in the closest match of the round.
It leaves all four Stawell teams at the top to contest the finals in a dominant performance from the town’s teams.
The next closest was Ararat who missed out by three points on a spot in the finals.
The two VRI teams were within four teams of Ararat meaning seven points separated fourth place down to seventh.
Stawell Blue will face second-placed Stawell Golf Purple while Stawell Gold and Stawell Golf Pink will also face each other in the semi-final round on Saturday.
Both games will be played at Ararat Bowls Club to avoid any home team advantage.
While only two points separated the top two teams, the Blue team had almost double the shot differential, compared to the Purple team.
Blue finished with 285, which averaged over the 14 rounds equals a 20-shot advantage each game.
This will be something that Purple will need to be aware of which might be cause for a defensive game to give it the best chance.
Stawell Gold will go into its match as favourites against Pink having the second biggest shot differential.
The winner of the Gold and Pink match will face the loser of the Blue and Purple match in the preliminary final on February 20 with the grand final a week later.
