O'LEARY, P.E.I. — The Suzanne Birt and Eddie MacKenzie rinks are one win away from winning the P.E.I. Scotties and Tankard titles at the Maple Leaf Curling Club.
Birt and her rink from the Cornwall and Montague clubs defeated Montague’s Darlene London team 12-2 on Saturday to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series. They are the only two teams entered in this year’s provincial women’s championship.
MacKenzie and his rink from Montague and Crapaud got by Blair Jay’s squad from the Silver Fox in Summerside 6-3 on Saturday. MacKenzie also holds a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series after a 10-4 victory on Friday.
London and Jay now face the prospect of having to win three straight games. They will look to stay alive in Draw 3 on Saturday at 4 p.m.
Draw 2
In Draw 2, Birt scored deuces in the first three ends to open up a 6-0 lead. London counted a single point in the fourth and Birt scored a triple in the fifth to open up a 9-1 cushion.
London scored a single point in the sixth end, but a three-ender by Birt in the seventh resulted in the teams shaking hands early.
Birt’s rink includes third stone Marie Christianson, second stone Meaghan Hughes, lead Michelle McQuaid and alternate Kathy O’Rourke. O’Rourke is playing the third position this weekend because Christianson was unable to travel to P.E.I. from Nova Scotia due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Other members of Team London are third stone Robyn MacDonald, second stone Shelley Rice and lead Gail Greene.
Birt won the opening draw 12-0 on Friday.
MacKenzie, third stone Tyler Smith, second stone Sean Ledgerwood and lead Ryan Lowery scored a deuce in the fourth end to overcome an early 1-0 deficit and take a 2-1 lead into the fifth-end break.
MacKenzie stole single points in the sixth and seventh ends to go up 4-1, but Jay answered with a deuce in the eighth-end to make it a one-point game.
MacKenzie came right back with a deuce of his own in the ninth end to close out the scoring in a 6-3 win.
Jay’s teammates are third stone Chuck Jay, second stone Jon Philip and lead Glenn Rogers.
The winning rinks will represent P.E.I. at the Scotties Canadian women’s curling championship from Feb. 19 to 28, and the Tim Hortons Brier from March 6 to 14. Both national competitions are being held in a bubble in Calgary.
