SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. — Kerri Einarson was brutally honest when describing her team’s performance earlier this season.
“We sucked.”
That isn’t the case anymore as they’re riding high at the Boost National. After missing the playoffs at both the WFG Masters and Tour Challenge, Einarson and her East St. Paul, Man., team turned things around for the third Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling event of 2016-17 to reach their first career elite-level final in the series.
Einarson earned her spot in Sunday’s championship game fending off reigning world champion Binia Feltscher of Switzerland 9-6 during Saturday night’s semis.
“It’s really amazing,” Einarson said. “When we got up early I was a little worried just because when you get up early you kind of lose sight of everything that’s happening so you relax more. We definitely held in there. They started making some more shots towards the end.”
After trading deuces to start, Einarson scored a big four-ender in the third to pull into the lead.
Feltscher was limited to just a single in the fourth, although the end didn’t as planned for Einarson, who had looked to put the pressure on even with the four-point cushion.
“In four, mine, the girls thought it was half-weight guard and it just kept sliding,” Einarson said. “If we would have made that then she would have been in for a tough shot but she made a good one and she got her one. Then we just held on and kept our lead.”
The teams alternated pairs of points again in the fifth and sixth ends with Einarson ahead 8-5 with two ends to play.
Feltscher stole one in seven to close to within two points, but Einarson tacked on another point in eight to finish off the nail-biting ending.
Einarson agreed that it’s a testament to the five-rock rule — where teams cannot eliminate rocks from play that are sitting in the free guard zone until five rocks have been thrown — providing some extra drama as no lead is safe with an extra guard in the mix.
“Sometimes at the beginning of the Slam in our first game I went up to go peel and they’re like, ‘You can’t.’ and I was like, ‘Oh right, shoot,'” Einarson said with a laugh. “Because then you go and play in other events where it’s just the four-rock rule and you get a little confused. But we’re happy where we are and we’re so excited to play in our first Slam final.”
Einarson will face another Swiss squad in the women’s championship game taking on Silvana Tirinzoni, who scored two in the seventh and stole a pair coming home to complete a 6-5 come-from-behind victory over Krista McCarville of Thunder Bay, Ont.
It was a heartbreaking finish for McCarville, hitting and rolling too far with her last to give up the game, following a strong performance in the tournament. After getting crushed 8-2 against Ottawa’s Rachel Homan to start the Boost National, McCarville went on a tear winning three straight to qualify and avenged the tough loss by ousting the defending champ 8-5 in a rematch during the quarterfinals.
Cathy Overton-Clapham is filling in at third on Team Tirinzoni with Manuela Siegrist out due to a knee injury. Overton-Clapham has been a super spare before with two Grand Slam titles over the past couple seasons as a sub winning the 2014 Masters with Val Sweeting and the 2016 Players’ Championship with Eve Muirhead.
Coincidentally, both teams were champions in the series last season and at the same event. Tirinzoni captured her first career Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling title in the Tour Challenge Tier 1 division while Einarson earned the Tier 2 trophy to move up into the elite ranks where’s she stayed put and proven she belongs.
Watch the Boost National women’s final at 4 p.m. ET on Sportsnet East, Ontario, Pacific and ONE and online at sportsnet.ca/now.
