Pool ladies agonisingly close to another title (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Pool ladies agonisingly close to another title

2:00pm Wednesday 20th March 2013 in Sport By Dan Cooper

THE Hampshire Ladies’ A pool team narrowly missed out on retaining their EBPF National County Championship title in Selsey last weekend.

The team, consisting of Rachael Bosworth, Amanda Watson, Nicola Glass, Catherine King, Clare Campbell, Alex La Vie, Jo Shaw and Nicole Clegg, finished top of their group of six county sides.

They then went on to record an emphatic 11-3 semi-final victory over Oxfordshire, before cruelly falling at the final hurdle with an 11-9 defeat at the hands of Staffordshire, who they beat in last year’s final.

This year the ladies changed their name to the Hampshire Hammers, in memory of their team-mate Kathy Ridgard, who died earlier this year.

Team captain King paid tribute to her late friend, who won two National County Championships with the team in 2010 and 2012.

“It was very sad and obviously we thought she would be here with us this year, but I hope she would have been proud of how far we got and what we achieved,” she said.

“We did it in her memory and we wanted it so much, but we didn’t quite get there in the end this year and of course that’s disappointing, but I couldn’t be more proud of the team. I thought we played brilliantly.”

The ladies singles competition saw Bosworth and Watson reach the quarter and semi-finals, respectively, but the men’s team were unable to match the ladies’ success, being knocked out at the group stage.

All of the county teams train at the Academy in Basingstoke, where open trials for the Youths (under 17), Men’s, Women’s and Senior’s (over 40) will be held on April 7.