Somerset 267 for 2 (Odgers 133*, Luff 103) beat Essex 266 for 8 (Grewcock 87, Smale 83, Anderson 3-44) by eight wickets
Somerset openers Bex Odgers and Sophie Luff both hit commanding centuries as their side demolished Essex with 10.3 overs to spare in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup.
Odgers struck an unbeaten 133 from 124 balls, sharing a partnership of 223 with captain Luff (103 from 96) to set up Somerset's resounding triumph at Chelmsford and strengthen their chances of qualification.
Their efforts overshadowed an excellent stand of 169 between Jodi Grewcock (87 from 101) and Sophia Smale, with a career-best 83 from 101, to rescue Essex from 15 for 2.
But Somerset struck back, restricting their hosts to 266 for 8 and Essex were further hampered by having to replace injured wicketkeeper Amara Carr, who was stretchered off after she slipped while attempting a second run late in the innings.
Asked to bat, Essex were quickly under pressure as they lost both openers in quick succession, with Bryony Gillgrass leg-before to Ellie Anderson (3 for 44) and Grace Scrivens steering to slip as she tried to charge Alex Griffiths.
Grewcock took time to settle, with her first eight deliveries yielding a single, but led her side's recovery with a string of robust pull shots to the fence whenever Somerset's bowlers pitched short.
Griffiths received that treatment three times in one over as Grewcock advanced to 50 at exactly a run a ball, and Smale followed at a more sedate pace, cutting Niamh Holland for four to reach her personal landmark.
However, momentum shifted when spinner Lola Harris (2 for 37) - having earlier shelled a caught-and-bowled chance to remove Grewcock - had the left-hander taken at midwicket, the first of three batters to depart in 12 balls.
Smale's hopes of a maiden hundred evaporated as she fell to Jazz Westley and, despite Liberty Heap's pugnacious 39 from 35, the home side suffered a further blow with the loss of Carr, run out after her foot jarred in the turf.
With injury replacement Ariana Dowse taking the gloves, Essex set off in quest of powerplay wickets, but those failed to materialise as Luff and Odgers zoomed away at around nine an over, peppering the boundaries with regularity.