Carolinas team wins 15th Mid-Atlantic Girls Challenge
WILLIAMSBURG — The eight-player Carolinas’ team held off a late rally from the Virginia/Maryland team and won the 15th Mid-Atlantic Girls’ Challenge, 6½-5½, on Sunday at Williamsburg Golf Club.
For the seventh consecutive year, the visiting team won the matches.
The Carolinas got off to a strong start Saturday, winning three of the four four-ball matches. The Virginia/Maryland team’s only win in four-ball came in the opening match, as Caroline Curtis (Hermitage CC) and Victoria Tip-Aucha (VSGA Junior Golf Circuit) defeated Kathleen Sumner and Baylee Evans 2 and 1.
The Carolinas won the next three matches to take a 3-1 lead into Sunday. Gracyn Burgess and Madison Moosa knocked off Maryland’s Sydney Mills and Julia Calomiris 5 and 4. Callista Rice and Emily Cox recorded a 3 and 2 victory over Maryland’s Delaney Shah and Kristin Hearp (Hidden Valley CC). Kathryn Carson and Haeley Wotnosky picked up a 5 and 4 win over Maryland’s Josephine Jung and Sirena Walsh (International CC).
The Carolinas got off to a solid start in Sunday’s singles matches as well, with Carson beating Jung 5 and 4 in the opening match, meaning the Carolinas needed only 2½ more points to secure the victory. But the Virginia/Maryland squad was game, taking the next four matches to get back into it. Mills beat Rice 3 and 2; Curtis topped Wotnosky 1 up; Shah beat Evans 2 and 1; and Tip-Aucha beat Burgess 4 and 3.
In the sixth match, Sumner beat Hearp 7 and 6 and Cox defeated Calomiris 3 and 2, meaning the best the Virginia/Maryland squad could hope for was a win in the final match to force a 6-all tie.
Moosa jumped on Walsh in the eighth match, winning the first hole to go 1 up and pushing the lead to 2 up on two occasions, the second coming after a win on the 15th hole. Walsh made par on the par-5 16th to win that hole, and then made a birdie on No. 17 to square the match. Walsh had a 10-foot birdie chance on No. 18, but the putt lipped out. Moosa made par as well, halving the hole and the match, giving the Carolinas squad the victory.
The Carolinas now leads the all-time series 10-4-1. Three of the Virginia/Maryland victories have come in the last six years.