Sport
4 March, 2026
Tigers bow out of finals race
SIMPSON’S women are out of the premiership race after losing their semi final to Birregurra on Sunday.
Birregurra won the toss and sent Simpson into bat first at the Colac Secondary College Oval, with the Tigers batters failing to fire, all out for 79 in 24.3 overs.
“I think Birreguura, from my perspective, were just hungrier” Simpson’s Shae DeFrancesco said.
“They bowled incredibly well, their field placement was impeccable, their fielding in general was just fantastic.”
Simpson’s openers Chelsea Osburn and Kelsey Fratantaro were the team’s top scorers with 15 from 34 balls and 17 from 26 respectively.
“I thought apart from really just Chelsea and Kelsey, we probably didn’t do as well as what we have throughout the season, which was evidently disappointing.
“We would have definitely liked a few more runs on the board.”
Through DeFrancesco, Simpson took a wicket in the first over, before a second wicket partnership of 56 between Lily King and Brooke Lonie put Birregurra right on top.
“That first wicket certainly got us up and about from the start of our bowling innings.
“Then they just put on such a strong partnership, they really dug in and made it hard for us.”
Birregurra ended up passing the score in the 21st over for the loss of just two wickets.
Despite the result, making the finals was an important marker in the Simpson’s women’s development.
“The girls obviously just missed out last year which they were disappointed about.
“But our goal this year was to play finals and we have done that, so as a team collectively we are stoked with our season.”
Coming back bigger and better is the goal for next season.
“We’re obviously devastated and disappointed that we didn’t make it to the game that counts most.
“It’s an incredible bunch of girls that we've got, the first year players had so much fun and we'd love for them to stick around, I reckon we're gonna come back a bit hungrier next year.”
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