Sports reports week commencing 18 June 2018

District Rounders Semi-Finals

Both St Mary’s Year 8 and Year 10 Rounders teams played District Semi-Finals this week.

The Year 8s’ semi-final against Stanway School on Tuesday was a very close game. St Mary’s led 6–4½ after the first innings, thanks to some tight fielding and great catches from Eve and good linking play between Maddy and Emily to get out Stanway’s strong hitters. Into the second innings, St Mary’s scored another six rounders through some intelligent running. With just five balls to go, Stanway still needed 2½ rounders to win and, unfortunately for St Mary’s, they found their batting form right at the end. This, coupled with a few missed throws, gave Stanway the opportunity to draw level and they eventually won the match 13½-12. Congratulations to the 27-strong squad, each of whom who played their part in helping Year 8 to reach the semi-finals and very well done to Claudia, Maddy, Paige, Emily, Scarlett, Pippa, Eve, Lily and Georgia, who all worked exceptionally well in the semi and came so close to making the final. A real team effort!

In their District Rounders semi-final, also on Tuesday, the Year 10s met Colchester County High School for Girls. After a close-fought first innings, in which Luna and Tabby scored some great rounders, the scores were only half a rounder apart. With all to play for in the second innings, the Year 10s pulled together with some excellent catches and deep fielding by Lizzie, Abi and Clemmie. Eventually though they were out-batted by the opposition and lost 14.5-6. The Year 10s should be very proud of themselves for getting so far through the tournament. Congratulations to all who have played!

Year 7 Rounders – Central Venue

The Year 7s were in great spirits as usual going into the third round of the central venue rounders tournament on Wednesday. The weather was windy which hampered fielding and communication.

The girls played Stanway first, with us batting in the first innings with some great hitting and risk taking and secured a score of 6 rounders. In the second innings there was some excellent work between Grace  the bowler, Charlotte at backstop and Ruby at second-base restricting Stanway to 3½ rounders resulting in a win! Final score, St Mary’s: 6, Stanway: 3½.

The second game was against St Benedict’s College who we’d played twice in friendlies in previous rounds of the tournaments, so both teams had a good measure of each other going into the competitive match. We batted first and were slow to start but gained momentum as the game progressed, ending with 4½ rounders. Our fielding was excellent we managed to get a few of our opposition out and restricted them 4½ rounders. The game ended in a draw.

The final game against Thomas Lord Audley School was close, with both teams scoring low in their batting innings due to some excellent fielding. We came away with a win scoring 6 rounders to TLA’s 4.

The team ended that round of the tournament undefeated, and overall came a respectable sixth in the district, well done everyone – Miss Honey has high hopes for next year! 

Year 9 Rounders Tournament

St Mary’s Year 9 team met those from Thurstable School, Philip Morant School and The Gilberd School on Thursday evening in a testing local tournament. After a tentative start to their first match, against Thurstable, the team began to pull together. Despite some good fielding, though, they chalked up a loss. They took a more relaxed approach to their second match, against Philip Morant, batting and then fielding exceptionally well, with Iona and Laura forced to retrieve some balls from the deep. They were unfortunately defeated by some big hitters on the opposition. Their third match, against The Gilberd, was a closely fought contest. The girls maintained their team spirit, Francesca bowled consistently and the players directed the ball well, displaying their knowledge of the game and tactical awareness.  This too resulted in a loss, however, with the team finishing seventh out of the eight teams competing.  

Year 10 District Rounders Tournament

Year 10s played in their final competitive rounders games for the school on Thursday and they did not disappoint! Their first opponents were Philip Morant School, who, thanks to some great bowling by Tabby and good general fielding, we were able to contain to just three rounders. Once in bat, Clemmie  scored a rounder off the very first ball and we quickly overtook Philip Morant’s score, finishing the match with a victory of 6-3. Next they took on the big hitters of Stanway School – St Mary’s team were up to the challenge and got out six of their players due to a couple of good catches and some excellent linking work between Luna and Amelia on backstop and first base respectively. Another win for St Mary’s 7-4, securing us a place in the semi-finals against Thurstable. This game lived up to expectation and was extremely close, with Thurstable batting first and securing 4½ rounders. Despite some great scoring, a very close call on 4th and some good final hits which forced Thurstable to pull some excellent catches out of the bag, the final score was a 3½-4 ½ loss. Well done to all who played!