SYDNEY, N.S. – Last year’s wild card team went to the final of the Scotties Tournament of Hearts and this year’s team, skipped by Casey Scheidegger of Lethbridge, Alta., is looking for a repeat performance.
The Scheidegger foursome scored deuces in the fourth and eighth ends en route to its second straight win, 7-2 over Suzanne Birt of Prince Edward Island (1-1, Charlottetown).
“I’m feeling pretty positive,” said Scheidegger, whose team went 7-4 in last year’s Scotties. “We don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves, but I felt that was our best ice-reading game.”
Scheidegger, third Cary-Anne McTaggart, second Jessie Haughian, lead Kristie Moore and alternate Susan O’Connor, failed to make it out of the tough Alberta playdowns. They advanced to the Wild Card game here and got into the main draw with a last-rock draw to the four-foot by Scheidegger for a 7-6 win over Kerri Einarson of Manitoba.
On Sunday she had great support from her teammates, especially Haughian (Casey’s sister), who curled 83 per cent, and McTaggart who threw 85 per cent.
“My team threw really well, they had a really good handle on the ice,” said Scheidegger. “Jessie and Kristie both had great games and they knew the paths really well so that really helps for me. They were outstanding. And Cary-Anne threw great, too and was giving me great feedback. We were just a good team unit.”
Birt is appearing in her 10th Scotties and backed this season by third Marie Christianson, second Meaghan Hughes, lead Michelle McQuaid and coach Mitch O’Shea. It was a difficult outing for Birt, who curled 54 per cent, and Christianson, at 69 per cent.
Marie Christianson — photo by Clement Roy
Sharpe and her teammates were laughing after their game — not because of the easy win, but because they totally missed a hit to score six in the fourth end. They still scored three. In the other Draw 4 matchups Jennifer Jones and Team Canada (2-0, Winnipeg) scored three in the ninth to beat Kerry Galusha of Northwest Territories (1-1, Yellowknife) 7-4; Kelli Sharpe of Newfoundland and Labrador (1-1, St. John’s) had three big ends to beat Nicole Baldwin of Yukon (0-2, Whitehorse) 12-4; and Robyn Silvernagle of Saskatchewan (1-1, North Battleford) scored deuces in the fifth and seventh ends to beat Andrea Crawford of New Brunswick (0-2, Saint John) 6-4.
“The hit for six was just a brain-dead moment,” Sharpe chuckled afterwards, saying they noticed it right after her shot. “Right after we went down and it was, oh, there was a hit for six. Honestly … we were so focused … it’s part of the experience, you’re going to have brain-dead moments now and then.
“Everybody on the ice, we all missed it. We’ll pay a little more attention next time.”
The 2019 Scotties Tournament of Hearts continues with Draw 5 tonight at 8 p.m. AST.
Live scoring, standings and statistics for the 2019 Scotties Tournament of Hearts are available at www.curling.ca/scoreboard/
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