Forres Bowling Club teenager Alana Coutts wins Scottish District 2 under-18 singles title for third year in a row as well as reaching final of ladies singles championship
A teenage bowler has retained her title in her district of the Scottish Championships.
Forres Bowling Club’s Alana Coutts has been crowned Scottish District 2 under-18 singles champion for the third year in a row.
Alana, who recently represented Scotland at an international match in Ireland, is also through to the District 2 final of the ladies' singles Scottish Championships.
She recovered from losing a maximum score in the very opening end of her first round tie in the ladies singles against Strichen rival Mary Menzies.
Before long the Forres bowler got to grips with the Peterhead green and led 13-6 after nine ends, eventually winning 21-11.
She was given a quarter-finals bye after her Turriff opponent pulled out and advanced to the last four where she made short work of Buckie Victoria’s Emma Petrie.
A maximum score of her own helped Alana to race into an 8-1 lead and she doubled this advantage before managing a second maximum in the 14th end to kill the match off.
She now plays Moray Bowling Club’s Sandra Dean in the final.
Alana also competed in the quarter-finals of the ladies under-25 singles against Keith’s Ashley McDonald in a repeat of last year’s final at Moray.
Alana charged into a 13-4 lead before Ashley hit a purple patch, and cut the deficit to 15-12 with 16 ends played. The Forres player regained her composure to see the game out 21-15, and she will play another Keith player in the semi-finals.
Another Forres bowler, Struan Porter is through to the second round of the men's Under 25 singles in his first year in the competition.
Struan only took up the sport last year but he came through an epic, 30-end battle against Ryan Gerrie of Aberchirder at Keith.
He battled back from two shots down to lead 5-2 and although he remained ahead for the rest of the tie, it was never comfortable.
No-one would have predicted another 14 ends when Struan went 15-8 up after 16 ends, and even when he was a shot away from victory at 20-14 after the 24th end, Ryan refused to give in and won five singles in a row to take the contest to the wire.
Struan finally got the shot he needed to secure a 21-19 victory in the 30th end. He will face a Keith player in round two.
Paul Rogan booked his place in the second round of the Men's singles by beating Norman Barker of St Aethan's (Burghead) at Moray. After leading 11-5, he conceded four shots in two ends to tighten the game up, but Rogan pulled away for a 17-12 win and now plays the winner of the Portsoy v Longside & District tie next.
The Forres men's champion, Paul Coutts, played Peterhead's Bill Tulloch at Aberchirder. The shots were flowing early on and at 8-8, Tulloch pulled clear with a three, but Coutts fought back with two braces to lead 12-11.
The Peterhead bowler hit a maximum and followed it up with a pair of singles, a deficit that was too much for Coutts to make up.
Rogan staged a fantastic comeback to progress to the third round of the over-55 singles after losing eight of the opening nine ends to Peter Gatt (MacDuff), and trailing 13-1.
After 16 ends he was 16-8 behind, but scored three threes as he had a successful six-end run to win 21-16.
Coutts was playing catch-up for almost all of his tie against last season's District 2 runner-up, Bill Menzies of Strichen at Cullen.
The Forres bowler led 7-6 at one stage, Menzies won four ends in a row and went 13-8 before Coutts scored a maximum at the 16th end and was only a shot behind again. Four ends in a row for the Strichen man helped him clinch victory in the 23rd end.
John Matthews was up against Alan Cruickshank of Fraserburgh West End at Cullen, and he never recovered from a poor start and went down 21-8.
Lesley and Paul Coutts are through to the third round of the Scottish Championships District 2 mixed pairs.
They won seven of their eight opening ends against Buckie's Diane Paton and Grant Murray to lead 8-1 at Moray. The coasters came back into the game with a four at the ninth end, but two fours late on for the Coutts secured a 17-8 victory.
After trailing Peterhead's Kenny McRitchie and Scott Ingram 4-1 in the men's pairs, Sandy Burgess and John Ross won four ends in a row to go 7-4 in front. Losing a six at the 11th end pushed the Peterhead pair ahead and on the way to victory.
The Cullen triple of Allan Petrie, Iain Anderson and Lewis Featch caught the Forres triple of Brian Caldwell, Skibo McKenzie and Harry Sutherland cold as they stormed 17-1 ahead after only eight ends of their tie. Eleven shots in four ends gave the Forres lads some hope, but they eventually lost 20-13.
The Forres over-55 rink of Robert McRitchie, Henry Davidson, Derek Sobey and Charlie Watt had a fantastic victory over George Garrick's Dufftown rink at Moray.
Forres scored ten shots without reply after four ends, and led 20-2 after four more to give the Dufftown rink no chance.
John Ross and Struan Porter got the season's club competition ties underway by playing their President's Handicap second round match. After a tentative opening, the pensioner showed the teenager how it was done, as Ross won 13 ends in a row, gaining comfortable passage into the third round.
The Forres 2 team were beaten 4-2 in their over-55 C league fixture away at Portgordon.
Ed Harris and Tom McNaughton led throughout their tie, scoring a four at the second end and a six at the tenth as they went on to win 19-6.
Monika and Paul Merritt struggled at the beginning of their tie, losing the initial handful of ends to trail 9-0. They won the next four, but three threes in succession killed off their comeback. Final score 8-18.
John Sutton and Derek Sobey weren't too far behind until they lost a five at the tenth end. Final score 8-19.
