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CRANBROOK, B.C. — Edmonton’s Val Sweeting righted the ship all the way to her second career Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling women’s title.

Team Sweeting bounced back from a winless run two weeks ago at the WFG Masters plus a loss in their opening game of the Tour Challenge to win six straight including an 8-4 victory over Michelle Englot and her Winnipeg-based team in Sunday’s final. 

Sweeting said the 180-degree swing means a lot and credits her teammates of third Lori Olson-Johns, second Dana Ferguson and lead Rachel Brown with the turnaround.

“The girls were playing so well,” said Sweeting, who earned $20,000 CAD and 12 Rogers Grand Slam Cup points. “I didn’t get off to a good start myself but they held me in there. We just kept doing what we’ve been doing all week figuring out the ice and learning after every shot. We just plugged away and it turned out well for us.” 

Sweeting opened with the hammer and looked to blank the first frame, however, she wasn’t able to eliminate Englot’s lone rock in the house on her first skip stone and — while facing two counters with her last — flashed past both and right through the rings to give up a steal of two. The two-spot didn’t faze Sweeting knowing there were still potentially seven more ends left to play.

“You’ve just got to shake those off and I was little unfortunate that my last one curled so much. I was surprised,” she said. “I think we figured it out. You’ve just got to park it, move on and do what you can out there and I think we did a really good job with that. It definitely means a lot we were able to turn things around. The girls did so well out there. I’m so proud.” 

Sweeting came up short of a deuce in the second, settling for one, but then took the steal train right through the next three ends into the lead and a 5-2 advantage. She drew for a perfectly buried shot stone in the fourth and Englot was unable to remove it to concede the lead. The pressure was on again in the fifth and Englot struggled by crashing on a guard with her last.

Englot capitalized in the sixth easing her last shot in for two after Sweeting wrecked on a guard. It was game over after the seventh when Sweeting made a great shot to score three and out came the handshakes. 

“We had a good idea of what the path was doing because I did that on my first one,” Sweeting said. “The girls managed it really well and it was a great end.” 

The Regina-based Englot, a seven-time Saskatchewan provincial champion, joined third Kate Cameron, second Leslie Wilson-Westcott and lead Raunora Westcott this season after their former skip Kristy McDonald stepped back from competitive curling.

Meanwhile, Jacqueline Harrison of Mississauga edged Krista McCarville of Thunder Bay 5-4 to win the Tier 2 women’s title. The team of Harrison, third Janet Murphy, second Stephanie Matheson and lead Melissa Foster will move on up to the elite ranks earning a promotion to the 2017 Meridian Canadian Open in North Battleford, Sask. 

“It means so much to our team,” Foster said. “The fact that they provide this Tier 2 is really important to lots of teams like us who are trying to bust through the bubble. Our province is really deep and we have to play all of these top teams all the time. It’s nice for us to get a chance to play and not just the elites, so it’s wonderful. Winning this has been amazing because it secures us another Grand Slam and of course it’s going to give us some confidence and swagger going back home too.”

Harrison stole back-to-back singles to start as McCarville attempted a double and over-curled to miss the second counter in the first and clipped a guard with her last in the second end. McCarville recovered with a tap for a single in the third, but Harrison counted one in the fourth to retake the two-point advantage heading into the break. 

The teams traded singles back and forth in six and seven with Harrison holding the hammer coming home in eight. However, McCarville stole the end as Harrison missed a runback attempt twice to force the extra frame. Harrison made no mistake drawing to the four-foot circle with her last in the extra.

“That’s what this game is all about at this level: being able to calm the nerves and focus on the shots,” Foster said. “If you have a shot left you’ll still have a chance. You can never give up and have confidence in each other and that’s what happened today.”