Yorkshire won their sixth Northern Women’s Region County qualifier in seven years with an emphatic display at Eden GC in Cumbria.
FORMAT: Six-team round-robin playing 2 foursomes & 3 singles
Last year the White Rose outfit lost out to Cheshire by the narrowest of margins but this year results conspired to allow them to regain the title with a match to spare. A 4-1 victory over Durham on Tuesday evening meant they were untouchable and they beat their Roses rivals for good measure yesterday to make it a perfect five from five.
Captain Carolyn Ackroyd said: “I’m extraordinarily proud of our team who conducted themselves with maturity and grace which is exceptional when their age range is only 14 to early 20s.
“They are coached by Lysa Jones to whom Yorkshire owe a huge debt of gratitude for the fantastic coaching, mentoring and disciplined practice which led to the result for Yorkshire.
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“We were also backed up by an army of trolley-pullers who gave unwavering support to the players.”
The Tykes included three new faces in 14-year-old Molly Campbell from Rotherham while 17-year-olds Hope Williams (Thirsk & Northallerton) and Millie Russell (Ganton) also made their bow.
Winning Yorkshire team:
• Lily Hirst (Huddersfield)
• Mia Eales-Smith (Lindrick)
• Cherry Marley (The Oaks)
• Katie Stephens (Middlesbrough)
• Molly Campbell (Rotherham)
• Amy Staveley (Ganton)
• Hope Williams (Thirsk & Northallerton)
• Abigail Taylor (Headingley)
• Millie Russell (Ganton)
County champion Lily Hirst (Huddersfield) led from the front and both she and Yorkshire runner-up Cherry Marley (The Oaks) won all five of their matches. The former played singles throughout and rounded off her week with a particularly eye-catching 7&6 success against junior England international Sadie Adams (Royal Birkdale).
It was also a dream week for Campbell, who combined with Katie Stephens (Middlesbrough) to win her foursomes match against Lancashire 6&5. That left her unbeaten for the competition, having also teamed up with Marley in the foursomes against Durham (won 4&3). A day earlier she also made her debut alongside The Oaks golfer in the opener against Cumbria (won 3&1).
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Yorkshire are also fortunate in that they will be able to name a largely unchanged side for the nationals at King’s Lynn, where they will meet Midlands North champions Lincolnshire, Midlands South winners Buckinghamshire plus the representatives from The South, South West and East. Those regional finals have yet to be played. Captain Ackroyd is likely to be without just one of her winning ‘nine’.
She added: “We now look forward to playing in the National Finals at Kings Lynn and I’m sure the team will represent themselves with the flare, dedication and enthusiasm as they did at Eden. Backed up by the unwavering support of the renowned Green Army of Yorkshire.”