Tassie Girls claim doubles titles

The Tasmanian pair of Shannon Perry and Harley How came through the field to claim the Australian Youth Girls Doubles title, just the second time the title has been won by a Tasmanian combination, the last time being back in 2000 when Tammy Olsen and Rebecca Smith were successful.

Australian Junior Girls Doubles
Shannon Perry and Harley How finished in top place in Pool “A” after they successful defeated Gillian Methven and Jordan Clark of Western Australia in a tiebreaker to decide the winner of the pool. Both pairs had lost one round.

As in Pool A in Pool B every pairing won at least one round.
In Pool “B” Queensland’s Tiarna Smith and Kara King topped the pool, winning all five round matches to top the pool and move into the second semi final. The rest of the pairings were very evenly matched but coming in second place to make the first semi final was the Western Australian pairing of Kaitlan Brown and Rebecca Penny with 3 wins. The tightness of the competition was shown in this Pool with every combination winning at least one round.

With the completion of the preliminary rounds the semi finals for the Australian Junior Girl’s Doubles were:
Shannon Perry & Harley How (TAS) v Kaitlan Brown & Rebecca Penny (WA)
Tiarna Smith & Kara King (QLD) v Gillian Methven & Jordan Clark (WA)

The first semi final saw the Western Australia Pairing of Kaitlan Brown and Rebecca Penny playing off against the Tasmanian pairing of Shannon Perry and Harley How. This semi was over relatively quickly with Perry and How winning 2 – 0. The first leg was highlighted by Perry starting with three consecutive scores of 100. Some nervous girls all had a few shots at the double before Perry was able to finish from 24. The second leg saw the Western Australian’s away first, but a 180 with her first throw in this leg by Perry again gave the Tasmanian’s the advantage. Again some darts wasted by all players and again Perry hit the right places to finish from 15 with 2-darts to advance to the final.

The second semi final saw a similar result as in the first semi final with Tiarna Smith and Kara King (left) coming out on top winning 2 – 0. The Western Australian pair of Gillian Methven and Jordan Clark were matching their Queensland opponents in the scoring department throughout this match and all players had chances to hit doubles, but it was Tiarna Smith that was able to hit the winner in both legs to place themselves in the final.

Girls Doubles Semi Final Averages
1st Semi Final
Shannon Perry 21.405 & Harley How 8.73 (TAS)
Kaitlan Brown 11.929 & Rebecca Penny 15.693 (WA)
2nd Semi Final
Tiarna Smith 20.638 & Kara King 13.909 (QLD)
Gillian Methven 20.606 & Jordan Clark 16.416 (WA)

The Grand Final was played by some nervous girls in front of a large crowd. It was the last match of the competition and the pairings had come out of opposite pools. All were playing in their first Championships and if they were on the right side of the winning double, they would walk away with a national title. Shannon Perry and Harley How (left) was away first with all players throwing good steady darts. Several scores of 100 thrown by Perry helped the Tasmanian’s to the double first where she was able to finish from 16 with 2-darts. In the second leg some good scoring this time by Smith and King gave them the advantage with darts at the double. They needed those extra darts as they were on D1 with King finally hitting it to square up the final. The third leg saw a little inconsistency from all players with their scoring and all had chances to win the leg. It was the Tasmanian’s that held their throw with Perry needing 2-darts to finish from 5. The fourth leg saw the Queenslander’s away and they were struggling now to find the big scores they badly needed. Perry and How were finding some good scores and consecutive 100+ scores gave them the advantage. No messing around with the pegout here with Perry finishing from 55 using 3-darts to win the leg, the final and the title 3 -1.

Australian Junior Boys Doubles
The round robin competition is split into two pools, which resulted in some very close competition in the boy’s event. Pool ‘B’ saw a very close competition with each pairing winning at least one round and losing one round. Topping the Pool was Tasmanian players Nathan Seabourne and Corey Cadby. They lost just the one round to the South Australian pairing of Phillip Stuart and Andy Warren. They would move straight into the semi finals. To find a pairing to play in the other semi final the second placed pairing was still to be decided. South Australia’s Phillip Stuart and Andy Warren had won four rounds as had the Western Australian’s Alex Jones and Blake Hatchett as well as the Northern Territories Jackson Wilson-Young and Lachlan Dodds-Watson. A deciding tiebreaker of 1001 was played to separate the three pairings with Jones and Hatchett winning the tiebreaker to make the second semi final.

Pool ‘A’ was just as close but the placings were automatic. Winning the Pool and winning all six of their rounds was Western Australian’s Dylan Dunster and Tyson Hoefel. They moved into the second semi final while Victoria’s Harley Kemp and Matthew Francois had to survive a tiebreaker against New South Wales pairing of Billy Egan and Joshua Townsend to make semi final one after finishing with four wins.

With the completion of the preliminary rounds the semi finals in the Australian Junior Boy’s Doubles were:
Dylan Dunster & Tyson Hoefel (WA) v Alex Jones & Blake Hatchett (WA)
Nathan Seabourne & Corey Cadby (TAS) v Matthew Francois & Harley Kemp (VIC)

The first semi final saw all the players in pretty good form. Three of the four players have represented their state at senior darts. The first leg saw Nathan Seabourne and Corey Cadby from Tasmania to the double first after not having the lead throw but they wasted eight darts trying to finish. This opened up the leg for their opponents in Harley Kemp and Matthew Francois from Victoria and they capitalised. The opening leg was grabbed by Kemp hitting D4 with 1-dart. The Tasmanian’s failed to take advantage of the lead throw in leg two by throwing some average scores, while their opponents found a couple of 140’s to take a good advantage in getting to the double first. This they did and did not waste darts again with Kemp again finishing from 32. With the break of throw to their advantage Kemp and Francois were away fast again scoring strongly not giving Seabourne and Cadby a chance. This time Francois cleaned up the leg with a nice 68 finish advancing to the final.

The second semi saw a one sided result but the match was a lot closer than what the score line indicated. Dylan Dunster and Tyson Hoefel from Western Australia (left) won through 3 – 1 over fellow Western Australian’s in Alex Jones and Blake Hatchett. The opening leg went with the darts to the pairing of Jones and Hatchett in brilliant style. Jones was on fire scoring 100,100,121 with his first three walks and Hatchett hit a 180 to leave their opponents with way behind. Jones could not miss and with his fourth walk he finished from 55 to claim the first leg. That leg woke up Dunster and Hoefel. As much as Jones and Hatchett found the triple in the first leg, they could not find it in the second. A couple of 140’s by Hoefel set him and his partner up to take leg two with Hoefel hitting D20 with his first dart to even things up. Hoefel finished with 1-dart from 32 to take leg three after him and his partner were now scoring more consistently and inflicting a break on their opponents. With the throw in leg four their solid scoring was enough to give them first shot at the double, this time it was Dunster finishing from 60 to make the final.

Boys Doubles Semi Final Averages
1st Semi Final
Harley Kemp 22.86 & Matthew Francois 21.025 (VIC)
Nathan Seabourne 17.457 & Corey Cadby 23.571 (TAS)
2nd Semi Final
Dylan Dunster 20.733 & Tyson Hoefel 26.038 (WA)
Alex Jones 21.49 & Blake Hatchett 18.857 (WA)

The final would be contested by pairings from the same pool for a shot at the title. In their Pool A round robin match Dylan Dunster and Tyson Hoefel won 2 – 1 and they were the defending title holders having won the title in Morwell Victoria last year. The final was highlighted by some top scoring with Hoefel and Francois hitting 180’s and clean finishing with all players requiring just one dart to finish the leg. All players started fairly evenly with the Victorians in Harley Kemp and Matthew Francois (left) starting. All players were throwing evenly matching each other and the lead throw was vital in winning each leg. All the first four legs went with the throw forcing a tiebreaking fifth leg. The advantage went to Kemp and Francois by winning the shot at the bull. All the players were still matching each other score wise. It came down to one throw, a 132 by Matthew Francois to leave 48. Dunster threw 100 to keep the pressure on but as with the rest of the final, only two darts were needed by Kemp to finish of the 48 to claim the leg and the title winning 3 - 2. All four players had played great darts and they all were so evenly matched producing a great contest.

Boys Doubles Final Averages
Harley Kemp (VIC) 24.50
Matthew Francois (VIC) 23.578
Dylan Dunster (WA) 22.241
Tyson Hoefel (WA) 22.82