THE Inverloch Stingettes retained their title after a thrilling grand final clash against rivals Koonwarra L/RSL on Sunday.
Playing at Leongatha’s Scorpion Park, this grand final showdown was a high stakes rematch after Inverloch won the 2022/23 premiership.
Inverloch began its winning way by winning the toss, choosing to let Koonwarra L/RSL set the tone of the game by sending them into bat first.
Koonwarra L/RSL went into the match confident and proved it was not to be counted out, making a strong start to the innings.
No wickets fell until the seventh over.
Mel Gheller gave an impressive performance, top scoring for Koonwarra L/RSL with 47 runs.
Kathy Zacharopoulos and Rachel King added 30 and 26 runs to the scoreboard.
Inverloch’s top bowler was Mackenzie Slidders, taking 2/2 off two overs.
Keely Dennerley and Cathy Felsted claimed a wicket each.
Koonwarra L/RSL finished its innings with an exceptional total of 145 – the highest score for the season.
Inverloch stepped in ready to take on the challenge.
What resulted was a nail-biting finish that came down to the last over – no one knew who had won until the scorers made the final call.
The Stingettes had a good, consistent innings, which saw Jess McDonald top score with 32 runs.
Liza Burrows and Holly Williams contributed 26 and 19 runs respectively.
Koonwarra L/RSL’s bowlers did all they could to stop the runs ticking over on the scoreboard.
Teagan Hughes was the star bowler, claiming 2/18 off two overs.
Wickets were also taken by King and Britney Thomas.
In the end, Inverloch also made a total of 145.
Once the allowance for wickets taken were added to the score – Koonwarra L/RSL four and Inverloch six – the final scores were 149 to 151.
The Inverloch Stingettes proudly celebrated the incredible back-to-back victory.
The league acknowledged Les White and Geoff Parkinson for umpiring the grand final.
