SportsReach Netball Tournament 2019

A great day at Ripley Saturday 18th May for the netball tournament! Brilliant to have so many teams and loads of spectators come along to enjoy the day! And Praise the Lord for the brilliant weather – a real answer to prayer! The morning session saw 3 junior teams compete in a round robin playing each other twice. Chipping Bobcats started the day off with a 7-2 win over Sky High from Morecambe but then lost 3-4 to Quernmore Wasps who in turn then lost 3-6 to Sky High! One win for each team! In the second round Bobcats again won 7-3 v Sky High and then again lost 3-4 to Wasps, who went into the last game needing at least a draw against Sky High to pip Bobcats to the cup. A close game ended with Wasps victorious 7-5 to regain the cup from Chipping who were the 2018 tournament winners! Great netball from all three teams and very close matches, which could really have seen any of them pick up the cup. Congratulations to Quernmore Wasps! Before the afternoon session began Lizzie Hyde from Sandhurst shared a great message. Using the Berlin wall as an illustration and how it brought separation between people and families in Germany and how sin separates us from God. The wall was brought down in 1989 and the separation was dealt with and no longer there. In Berlin there is still a line showing where the wall was and the cross shows us that Jesus dealt with the sin that separates us from God and that if we come to Him, He will bring us into a right relationship with God. 24 teams then contested the afternoon tournament! 4 pools of 6 all playing each other with the top 2 from each pool going through into the 1/4 finals. In the first pool Garstang went unbeaten to top the group on 25 points with TopCats coming second only losing out to Garstang in the group matches. Pool 2 was topped by Preston Amazons, also unbeaten in the group matches, winning 4 and drawing 1 of their games, with WildCats just pipping Lancaster Roses by a point to second place. Pool 3 and another of the Preston teams, Swallows also won all their games to record a maximum of 25 points to top the group with Westhouse Thunder to rumble into second place with 21 points. Pool 4 saw Babybelles, full of confidence after winning the Plate competition a couple of weeks ago, overcome tough competition against the 2018 tournament winners Lancaster Royals and a new team to the tournament, Myerscough Roses. Babybelles emerged unbeaten to go through with Myerscough in second place. The 1/4 finals saw Garstang, come up against WildCats and record a 21-3 victory to set up a semi final v Myerscough who overcame Swallows in a close match 9-6. TopCats won against Amazons 13-7 and then faced Babybelles who won a very closely contested match v Thunder 10-8. Garstang continued relentlessly as they overturned a strong Myerscough team in the first semi final to go through to the final where they would come up against Chipping TopCats who finally ended Babybelles strong challenge 11-8. Garstang v Chipping TopCats in the final. A repeat of their earlier group match and a repeat of many finals and close league finishes over the years! The final began very nip and tuck with chances at both ends and Garstang just getting in front to lead 5-3 at the break. Into the second half and Garstangs goalshooter missed nothing as Garstang pulled away to win 15-7 and reclaim the tournament trophy for 2019. Many thanks to all the organisers, umpires, spectators and players and also a huge thank you to Ripley for allowing us to use the facilities for the day.