WITH the ladies' group stage of the Blackthorn British Skittles Championship reaching its climax, 14 teams are celebrating and planning to take their place at the Grand Finals in September.

Group two's representatives in the finals at Sand Bay Leisure Resort in Weston-super-Mare on Saturday, September 20 will be the Royal TOTS, from Taunton, and AKA Angels, who will not have far to travel to the finals as they come from Weston.

The Royal TOTS have been ever-present in the competition since the start in 2004, reaching their first grand final in 2005, where they had their trophy hopes snatched away by the Everhopefuls.

In group three the Oakettes, from Dorchester, took the top spot with 17 points, followed by Wyke Regis side Wyke Orbits with 13.

Both teams made their debuts in 2006, when the Wyke Orbits were beaten in the finals by the Titbits.

In group four the Grasshoppers, from Gloucester, held on to the top spot by beating runners-up The Lady Wreckers, from Calne, home and away.

Grasshoppers have been in the competition every year since 2004 and are looking forward to returning to the Grand Finals after failing to qualify last year.

This is the second year in the competition for the Lady Wreckers, who also have teams in the men's and mixed events.

In group five the Cotswold WAGS, from Bibury, held on to win the group by three points from 2007 runners-up Baker St Follies.

The WAGS are the wives and girlfriends of the Cotswold Cavaliers team, who won the 2006 men's championships, and are making their debut in the competition – although some of their players also play for mixed side 10cc, who won their event in 2007.

The WAGS are hoping to add the Ladies' title to make it a hat-trick for Bibury.

In group six, 2007 champions Coleford Bowlovers will be hoping to repeat their success by retaining the title.

They dominated the group and won it with a total of 17 points, eight more than runners-up Rainbows, who qualified for finals night at their first attempt.

In group seven the Poptarts, from Barry, won the group and lost only one game along the way.

They will go to the finals, along with the Hillbilly Ladies from Coleford, who are taking part in the competition for the first time.

With the top two ladies teams qualifying from each of the seven groups, just two places in the finals are still up for grabs.

They will be decided when the two top third-placed teams from both regions slug it out over two-legged play-offs.

The first play-off sees Gloucester side Misfits hoping to slay newcomers The Dragons, from Ross-on-Wye, while the other match will be between All Girls, from Ivybridge in Devon, and Weymouth's Motley Crew Ladies.

All Girls made it to the Grand Finals last year and beat Gloucester's Jolly Girls by one pin in the first round before losing to eventual runners-up Baker Street Follies.

Motley Crew Ladies will be looking to make up for defeat at this stage last year, when they lost to Wyke Orbits.

In the men's competition, a superb team display by Bridport-based Masters saw them overturn a three-pin first-leg deficit against tournament favourites Pin-Ups, from Weymouth.

Pin-Ups held the advantage after defeating Andrew Frampton's men at the West Bay hotel in the first leg.

A competitive game saw the Masters 14 pins down after three hands, but the Pin-Ups left the door open by hitting a paltry 49 hand.

The Masters cashed in and pulled 15 pins, which in effect was the key point in the match.

Although they then went on to lose the first leg, they knew they had a good chance of causing an upset after defeating the opposition in the previous year's group stages.

Frampton decided to field an entire team of double-handed players due to the big-sized balls at Weymouth, as he thought that single-handers may struggle with direction.

The Pin-Ups were first on and lost six pins on the first hand, five on the second and eight on the third on the wide-spaced pins.

Ian Pincombe,Darren Cooper and Martin Horton all started with nine to get the Masters off to a flyer.

Openers Nick Day and Julian Caplen also started strongly, which took the pressure off the rest of the side.

The Masters lost four pins on the fourth hand but picked up three in the final two hands to win by a massive margin of 18.

Vice-captain Ian Pincombe said; “We are delighted with our performance. Our motivation came from our coach, Les Bagwell.

“The standard and competitness of Weymouth teams is as tough as it gets, so to come through an exceptionally tough group round and knock-out stage will stand us in good stead.”

The Masters will be keen to reach the final 16, having lost in the knockout stages last year.

The next obstacle they have to clear is a two-legged game against either The Imps, from Dorchester, or Merlins, from Somerset.

The Imps look to be favourites as they will take a 32-pin lead into the second leg of their clash with Merlins after the first leg at Dorchester Conservative Club.

The Imps started with a 59 hand, with Mark Ackerman getting a 14 stick-up, but the visitors hit back with a 65 hand to go six up.

Ackerman again hit a stick-up on the second hand and the home side hit a hand of 69.

But the Merlins again played well, with K Burpitt hitting his second stick-up of the night as his side hit 63 to tie the match.

The third hand saw the Imps skittle well, and with a big 17 stick-up from Martin Haime took their hand total to 73. With Merlins skittling steady to a 60 hand, the Imps led by 13.

The fourth hand put the Dorset team in control as they hit a hand of 65, and Merlins could only reply with a 54 hand to give the Imps a lead of 24.

With the game looking over, the home side put in a poor hand of 58 to give the Somerset lads a chance, and Merlins took it to come back into the match, hitting a hand of 67, with lead-off man A Tyling having a 14 stick-up.

Star man Burpitt chipped in with a 10 stick-up to bring the difference between the two teams down to 15 pins.

On the last hand the Imps were heading for an average hand until seventh man Keith Wyatt had a flopper and got 16, and the Imps finished with a hand of 71 to leave Merlins needing 87 to win.

With the second leg to play at their home alley, Merlins were looking at keeping the difference between the two teams down to a minimum, but a poor hand of 54 gave the Imps a 32-pin victory and a good lead to defend on their trip to Somerset.

The top scorer for the Imps was the impressive Mark Ackerman, who hit 59, while Burpitt went two better for the visitors, hitting 61.

After securing their place in the second round of the competition, Coleford's Royal British Legion men's team played the first leg of their match against the Rusty Pigss on their home alley at the Barton Inn at St. Barton, near Somerton.

The Rusty Pigs proved their worth from the start and were 36 pins up after the first two legs.

Although the Legion men struggled on and managed to pull pins back gradually over the next couple of legs, the Rusty Pigs finished strongly, leaving The Legion Men defeated with 34 pins down.

The Coleford men hope revenge will be sweet when they take on the Rusty Pigs again in the second leg on their home alley at The Royal British Legion in Coleford.