MacDougall, and lead Stefanie Clark, with coach Charlie Sullivan, lost both
games on Saturday in the $32,000 Southwestern Ontario Women’s Cashspiel, being
played in London Ontario. They lost 8-2 against Team Switzerland, skipped by
Mirjam Ott, and 8-3 against the Lisa Farnell team from Peterborough. Birt, who
won her first two games on Friday, against Alison Goring of Toronto, and four
time Canadian and two time world Seniors champ Anne Dunn of Cambridge Ont., is
now in the sudden-dealth C division of this triple-knockout event, and must win
at 9 this morning against Jacqueline Harrison from the Alliston Curling Club,
and again at 2:30 pm against the winner of another 9 am contest between Jo-Ann
Rizzo of Brantford, and American Patti Lank, in order to advance to the 7:30 pm
quarter-final round. The semis go Monday morning at 9, with the final game at 1
pm. All times are Eastern.
World Champions and last year’s event runner-up Team China, skipped by Bingyu
Wang, have already qualified for the quarter-finals, as have Team Switzerland.
Wang handed Rachel Homan of Ottawa, who has won the event the last two years,
her first loss in this year’s event yesterday afternoon, taking a second-end
triple, and scoring a deuce in the final end of a close 7-6 battle.
The Swiss Olympic team followed their win against Birt with a 5-4 edging of
Coldwater Ontario’s Sherry Middaugh foursome.
In the B flight, Homan is playing Erika Brown of Madison Wisconsin, and
Middaugh is facing Cathy Auld of Toronto at 9 am, with the winner advancing to
this evening’s quarter-finals.
All proceeds from the charity cashspiel, now in its 13th year, go toward breast
cancer research. To date, the cashspiel has raised $182,915 for the cause.