International raider claims singles gold
By Kelsey Cottrell
Katelyn Inch is no stranger to winning prestigious titles; however, a number of those victories have been on kiwi soil before moving to the Gold Coast to pursue an international bowls career.
Her opponent, BCiB Australian Jackaroo Chloe Stewart was aiming for back-to-back State Singles titles but that looked like a monumental task when she fell 1-15 behind in the final against the New Zealand star who plays out of Broadbeach.
As former club mates and both now Gold Coasters, both girls knew what to expect from each other’s game, and despite the score line early, everyone, including Inch was anticipating Stewart to get herself back into the match.
“I just knew that against a really good competitor like Chloe I needed to get off to a really good start,” said Inch.
“I seemed to find the rink quite easily at the start, getting my line and length quite well so I just said to myself get as many shots as you can now because she is going to come back.”
When Stewart picked up two scores of three on back-to-back ends and won a further three of the next four ends to reduce the deficit to just five, we knew the match had some more twists and turns.
Half an hour later and Chloe Stewart had scored 18 shots to Katelyn Inch’s two and the defending champion had hit the lead.
That sparked Inch into action, striking back with a three and regaining the lead 20-19
“It was looking scary for a while; as soon as she got in front I said that’s enough I need to stick this out and I knew I could grit it out at the end.”
The last 10 ends had a bit of everything; both girls saved game, killed ends and contended with the extra mental battle of a bad storm rolling in at any time.
“I’ll need to go back and watch the replay because I was so nervous, I jumped really high when the thunder and lightning started to hit, but it was worth it,” Inch recalled.
The lead chopped and changed but it was Inch who managed to get to the jack first on the final end, 24-24, and a final drive from Chloe Stewart was only able to remove one of the shot bowls, giving victory to Inch.
On neighbouring rinks the men’s semi-finalist were doing battle and upsets were brewing. The underdogs, Chris Rosanes (Pine Rivers) and Peter Leon (Kawana) had both reached 15 first and established a handy lead on their opponents, Australian Jackaroos Barrie Lester and Aron Sherriff.
Chris Rosanes was without a doubt the player in the best form across the entire green; he withheld a late surge from Lester to take his semi-final match 25-15 whilst in the other semi-final Peter Leon maintained his lead and a claimed another big scalp 25-16.
Women’s Final Score
Chloe Stewart (Tweed Heads) def by Kateyln Inch (Broadbeach) 24-25
Men’s Semi-Final Scores-
Barrie Lester (Burleigh Heads) def by Chris Rosanes (Pine Rivers) 15-25
Peter Leon (Kawana) def Aron Sherriff (Club Helensvale) 25-16
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