Reynolds and Berger to face off in Wee Waa Bowling Club’s A-grade singles final

Another chapter of a friendly rivalry will be written next month when Toby Reynolds and Steve Berger go head-to-head in Wee Waa Bowling Club’s 2024/25 season A-grade singles final.

The two champion bowlers were both victorious in their respective semi-final matches last week, and they will now face off in July. The match is expected to be played on Sunday, July 13, but that is yet to be confirmed.

The last final they met in was the 2023/24 season consistency singles decider in November last year, which Reynolds won 156-141 across 30 ends, and the last time they met in an A-grade singles final was just over three years ago when Berger downed Reynolds 31-12 after 27 ends of play in the June of 2022.

That saw the club legend, who had celebrated a milestone 50 years as the club’s greenkeeper earlier that year, claim his sixth A-grade singles title and dethrone Reynolds, who had won his first title in May 2021 when he beat Todd Cowan 31-13 across 28 ends.

Berger was then the runner-up in the 2023/24 campaign to Ty Baker, who Reynolds took down last week on Tuesday, June 10, in their semi-final meeting.

Reynolds won that match 25 shots to 18 against the defending champion to advance to the decider.

Baker went down one shot on the first end but bounced back with a three on the second and a four on the third to establish an early seven shots to one lead.

The two bowlers both claimed six shots each across the next six ends as Baker still led by six shots after the ninth end, with the score at 13 shots to seven.

Reynolds then went to another level as he won seven of the next eight ends a combined 14 shots to one to take a commanding 21-14 lead.

Baker scored four shots across the next three ends, but Reynolds scored a three on the 19th to reach 24 shots in the first-to-25 match. He then scored the winning shot on the 21st to earn a 25 shots to 18 victory.

Berger and Trinity Kelly met in the other semi-final on Sunday morning, and Berger prevailed 25 shots to 16 across 25 ends.

He established an early five-shot lead after scoring a three on the first end and a two on the second, but Kelly hit back with a four in the third to reduce his deficit to one.

Berger then claimed five of the next six ends to go in front 15 shots to five, and he was then ahead 20 shots to 11 after 18 ends.

Kelly then went on a three-end run in which he registered five shots to reduce his deficit to four, but Berger was too good in the end as he won the next four ends to come out on top 25 shots to 16 after 25 ends of play.

There were two A-grade pairs games played at the club on Saturday, which saw Berger team up with Kevin Baker to outscore Charlie Thompson and Graham Amos 39 shots to 10, while Melissa and Dustyn Allen take down Toby Reynolds and Cody Booby 26 shots to 16.

Wee Waa Bowling Club released its latest fixture list earlier this week.

An A-grade pairs match will be held on Saturday, which will see Brett Pillar and Paul Andreassen take on David Hogan and Wayne Booby.

Four more matches must be played by Sunday, July 6. They are as follows:
A-grade pairs – Winner of Saturday’s game v Peter Doring and Trinity Kelly; Kevin Baker and Steve Berger v Brock and Melissa Allen.
B-grade pairs – Hunter and Zack Doring v Kyne Allen and Kay Dewson; Gary Nolan and Peter Hennessy v Dot Dewson and teammate.

Meanwhile, Wee Waa Bowling Club will line up at Bowls NSW’s 2024/2025 grade five open state pennant finals at Mount Lewis Bowling Club later this month.

The North West champs have been placed in section three alongside the Central Coast champions Mingara, Metro North-West champions Toongabbie, and Greater Newcastle champions Merewether.

There are 16 teams in total, split into four sections of four. Sectional play will be contested on Friday and Saturday, June 27 and 28, followed by quarter finals, semi-finals and grand final across the weekend.