Homan, Jones qualify for Humpty’s Champions Cup playoffs
SHERWOOD PARK, Alta. — Ottawa’s Rachel Homan and Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones finished pool play in the Humpty’s Champions Cup with identical 3-1 records to qualify for the playoffs.
Homan advanced with a 6-4 win over Jacqueline Harrison of Mississauga, Ont., and Jones downed Winnipeg’s Kerri Einarson 9-2 during Draw 12 Friday afternoon.
The Rogers Grand Slam Cup winner Homan will face Edmonton’s Kelsey Rocque (2-2) and Jones is slotted to play Edmonton’s Val Sweeting (3-1) and Einarson goes up against Saskatoon’s Stefanie Lawton (2-2) in Saturday’s quarterfinals. Japan’s Ayumi Ogasawara secured the No. 1 seed with an unblemished 4-0 record awaits the winners of a tiebreaker between Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland and Satsuki Fujisawa of Japan.
The world silver medallist Fujisawa fell to a 2-2 record following a 5-4 extra-end loss to Krista McCarville of Thunder Bay, Ont., in Draw 12. McCarville, who earned silver for Northern Ontario at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, ended on a high note finishing with a 1-3 record.
Tirinzoni (2-2) secured a spot in the tiebreaker with a 9-3 win over Team Fay of Chester, N.S.
The Tour Challenge Tier 1 winner Tirinzoni broke a 2-2 tie with a three-ender in the fourth. Team Fay interim skip Kristin Clarke hit a guard with her last to miss the buried shot-stone counter and Tirinzoni capitalized to split her guard and roll both in for three.
Clarke landed on the button three times during the game for singles in the first, third and fifth ends. Tirinzoni put the game away in the sixth end driving her final shot through a narrow port for a hit to score four.
Team Fay was eliminated with a 1-3 record in their series debut. Skip Mary Fay missed the event to focus on Grade 12 exams for her international baccalaureate program. Clarke moved up to skip and Sarah Daniels of Delta, B.C., subbed at third.
In the lone men’s division game, Toronto’s John Epping topped American Brady Clark 7-3 to advance to the playoffs with a 3-1 record. Clark dropped to 1-2.
NOTES: The Humpty’s Champions Cup is the seventh and final event of the 2015-16 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season and runs through to Sunday at the Sherwood Park Arena Sports Centre. … Teams had to win a high-profile tour event over the course of the season to qualify. … The event is the second of two new tournaments added to the schedule this year along with the Tour Challenge, which kicked off the season in September.
