On a night of high drama at four different courses, Cave Castle defied the odds to top Group A, whilst Hull leapfrogged leaders Cottingham to also take a semi final spot. Hornsea secured second in Group B behind Skidby, who were home and hosed last week.
Let's start at Cottingham Parks in Group A, where only a 5-1 win or better would guarantee Hull a semi final berth against the group leaders.
Bobby Beasley showed he knew his way around Cottingham better than most by beating Tom Anderson 4&3. A perfect start for the visitors, but Hull trailled in the other two matches into the back nine and Cottingham looked assured of topping the group.
George Pepper, Hull's number two, had other ideas, even at 1 down with 5 to play. He levelled the match at 14 against the rapidly improving 9 handicap Noa Ayala who then found water at the 15th to lose her early advantage. An excellent up and down at 16 and a miracle par at 17 kept George 1up, before a drive at 18 which finished a couple of inches the wrong side of the white posts. Match halved.
Could Harry Earl save the day? Not likely at 2 down on the 15th tee, but some calm golf under pressure against Ollie Spencer got the match to all square after 17. Harry used his shot well at the long par 5 last where a nerveless 5 nett 4 got the job done for Hull. So a 5-1 victory against the odds put Hull to the top of the table on hole difference (for now) over Cottingham, who now had to hope that the group's other fixture was anything other than 6-0 either way.
Cave Castle were without Tom Adcock, so Huxley Sawyer led the Cavemen off against Beverley's Will Bentley. A convincing 5&4 victory set the tone and when Zac Davies followed with a win by the same margin over Oscar Raynor, the miracle was still on. Step up Jack Wall - last week's hero against Hull. He triumphed on the last against Archie Russell (both pictured on the 6th at Cave) to take the match 2 up and win Cave home advantage in the semis as they topped the group by a point from Hull. Cottingham slipped to third and their race was run.
Full results and final group standings
Group B was just as tense, even though Skidby Lakes could not be caught at the top.
Hornsea are dangerous at home, and so it proved as they put down a strong marker to finish as runners up with a 4-2 victory. Seth Topham once again led from the front with a 2&1 win over Skidby's James Williamson. His normally dependable wingman Alfred Anderson lost to Louie Brookes 3&2, leaving the tie in the balance as Lilly Anderson took on the in form Archie Bean. As she has done so many times over the last three seasons, Lilly kept her nerve to triumph 1up, taking Hornsea to 19 points with a massive positive hole difference.
Hainswoth Park knew at the start of play that they had to better Hornsea's result to progress, but Freddie Moore's 4&2 loss to Burstwick's Ethan Matthews effectively ended their hopes. Convincing home wins for Tom Jimmeson over Jaydn Bell and for Harry Mayoh over Charles Graham improved their hole difference by 4 on the night, but a 4-2 victory wasn't quite enough.
Cave Castle will therefore host holders Hornsea in the first semi final, with Skidby Lakes entertaining Hull in the other.
So, a thrilling end to the league stage with nothing decided in either group until Harry and Lilly won their respective anchor matches on the 18th green. Thanks to junior organisers for their prompt reporting of scores and of course to the parents who got the players to all the matches on time and provided support on a Monday evening.
Eight teams started, four remain. Who will meet at Ganton on Sunday 15 September in the 2024 Junior League final?
Jonathan Clark
ERUGC Junior League Secretary
