By David Nagel
Snipers and Predators will battle it out for the 2025 South West Gippsland Dart League Summer Season premiership after an absorbing night of semi-final action at the Nar Nar Goon Hotel.
After a spectacular season on the oche, top-of-the-table Snipers took on fourth-placed Just Social in semi-final one, while Predators and Cheers fought it out in the battle between second and third.
Snipers proved too powerful for Just Social on the night, winning 8-4 in the best of 15 battle; with some great darts thrown in the grand final qualifier.
Chris from Snipers threw a 180 on the night while his teammate Tim brought the house down with a nerveless 103 peg-out.
Just Social proved a tough team to knock down, but Snipers qualified for the big dance with their eighth-consecutive victory.
The second semi-final went all the way down to the wire with second-placed Predators defeating Cheers 8-7 in a great exhibition of competitive darts.
The two teams went blow for blow, with Jordan Gray from Predators and Liam Edwards from Cheers doing everything possible to get their teams across the line.
Gray and Edwards both threw 180s on the night, with the performance of Edwards particularly impressive.
He finished with seven tons and a 180 in a perfect individual night of results, winning all his matches and a final score of 21 points.
But Gray would have the last laugh, with Predators advancing to this week’s grand finale.
The grand final shapes up to be a beauty with Snipers and Predators not meeting since round one when Snipers handed an under-prepared Predators a 12-3 defeat.
Predators certainly learned something that night; having now won 12 games on the bounce.
In further semi-final action, teams finishing fifth to eighth on the ladder fought it for spots in the grand final of the Don Brown Memorial Shield.
And the level of darts was exceptional.
Mud Rats showed their superiority over Dart Vaders, with the fifth-placed team defeating the eighth-placed Vaders 8-1, while the game between sixth-placed Dart Devils and seventh-placed AAA Dartz was a lot more intriguing contest.
Both teams came out strong with AAA Dartz producing one of their best performances of the year to down the Devils by a scoreline of 8-5.
Mud Rats will now take on AAA Dartz in the final, with AAA appearing to have the edge after defeating Mud Rats 11-4 in their most recent match up in round 12.
Congratulations to all semi-final participants on producing a fantastic night of entertainment.
GRAND FINALS
PREMIERSHIP CUP
Snipers (1) v Predators (2)
DON BROWN MEMORIAL
Mud Rats (5) v AAA Dartz (7)
