READ MORE - BBD weekend pennant week one finals results
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BENDIGO put a poor month of form behind it to keep its BBD pennant season alive with an elimination final win over South Bendigo on Saturday.
Coming off four losses in a row by a combined 135 shots - which included a clean sweep defeat to South Bendigo the previous week - Bendigo regained its mojo, defeating South 92-76 at Eaglehawk.
"As a group we showed some real heart and character today… simple as that," Bendigo skipper Andrew Brown said.
"I felt last week that even though the result didn't show it, we were getting back on the right track.
"We've still got 12 premiership players in the side and we played at the level today you need to win finals.
"For the past month or so we've had the pressure of trying to make the finals and once we got here today we had everything to gain.
READ MORE - Bendigo East v Eaglehawk | PHOTOS
"From here on there's no more pressure on us because no-one is giving us a chance and we'll take that mentality into the next game."
The performance of Brown's rink was crucial in the form turnaround for Bendigo.
Having lost four in a row - albeit the previous two by just one shot - Brown's rink bounced back with a 27-14 result, while Mitch Hocking (+10) was also a double-figure winner for Bendigo.
The contest featured a tied match-up between Bendigo's Torie Babitsch and South's Luke Hoskin, who finished 18 apiece.
Bendigo's opponent in next Saturday's preliminary final at Kangaroo Flat will be Eaglehawk - a team it lost its two home and away meetings against by a combined 79 shots.
The Hawks missed the chance to move directly through to the grand final when beaten 93-87 by fellow powerhouse Bendigo East in the qualifying final at Bendigo.
The six-shot victory qualifies the Beasties for their eighth grand final in the past 10 years.
For what are two evenly-matched teams, there was only one tight battle, with the Hawks' rink of Brayden Byrne edging out Marc Smith 25-24.
The one-shot defeat was a fourth-straight loss for the rink of Smith.
The other three contests were all decided by at least eight shots.
The East rink of Lee Schraner bounced back from its first loss of the season with a 24-13 victory over Dean Carter, while the Beasties also had Aaron Tomkins' rink record a 27-19 win over Simon Carter.
Coming off a win over Schraner the previous week, the Eaglehawk rink of Darren Burgess ended Brad Marron's good form with a 30-18 victory.
The Hawks had been in front by five shots at the tea break.
Meanwhile, a spread of six clubs already have teams qualified for the BBD weekend pennant grand finals.
Bendigo East, Eaglehawk, Strathfieldsaye, Marong, Campbells Creek and Bendigo VRI all had teams qualify directly on Saturday.
• Qualified for grand final:
Division 1 - Bendigo East.
Division 2 - Eaglehawk.
Division 3 - Bendigo East.
Division 4 - Strathfieldsaye.
Division 5 - Marong.
Division 6 - Campbells Creek.
Division 7 - Bendigo VRI.
Division 8 - Strathfieldsaye.
And in other bowls news, Bendigo's Andrew Brown and Eaglehawk's Kaye Rowe have advanced to the State Finals of Bowls Victoria's Champion of Champions.
Brown defeated City of Echuca's Brent Reiner 25-18 and Rowe beat Deniliquin's Linda Harris 25-15 in Sunday's region finals.
Meanwhile, the BBD has announced its weekend pennant finals venues for next Saturday's preliminary finals:
Div 1 - Eaglehawk v Bendigo (Kangaroo Flat A).
Div 2 - Marong v South Bendigo (Eaglehawk Kelly).
Div 3 - Harcourt v Golden Square (Bendigo East A).
Div 4 - Woodbury v Eaglehawk (Bendigo East B).
Div 5 - Dingee v White Hills (Golden Square Front).
Div 6 - Kangaroo Flat v Eaglehawk (Woodbury).
Div 7 - White Hills v Marong (Golden Square Back).
Div 8 - Campbell's Creek v Marong (Woodbury).
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