TORONTO — It was an emotional moment for Satsuki Fujisawa’s team on Wednesday night in the Princess Auto Players’ Championship as they faced off against Jennifer Jones for possibly the last time.
The iconic Winnipeg skip is retiring from women’s curling following a decorated career winning Olympic gold, two world championships, six Scotties Tournament of Hearts titles and 10 Grand Slam of Curling titles.
After Fujisawa picked up the 9-4 win, all four members of the Japanese club presented Jones with a gift bag as they shared lots of hugs, laughs and tears.
“She is our idol,” Team Fujisawa third Chinami Yoshida said. “When we came here, we talked about why we wanted to come to the last Grand Slam, we really wanted to see Jones.
“This is her last [event], so we are really glad we got to play against Team Jones.”
The game was also pivotal for Team Fujisawa, seeded last in the 12-team women’s division, as they grabbed their first win of the week to improve to a 1-2 record and remain in contention.
“We came here lucky No. 12, bottom of the rankings, so that’s why we really just want to enjoy the curling here,” Yoshida said. “Losing is pretty tough for us, but we always have the confidence to win here.”
Fujisawa started the match with the hammer and narrowly avoided two guards to make a tap and convert for a deuce in the first end.
Jones (1-2) was able to level things in the second with a great angle raise takeout for her deuce.
After singles back and forth, Fujisawa didn’t hammer her last in the fifth hard enough as her blank attempt failed to remove Jones’s shot rock to give up a steal.
Fujisawa recovered with a draw for two in the sixth and stole one in the seventh to hold a 6-4 advantage without the hammer coming home.
Jones misfired her last shot in the eighth end as Fujisawa tacked three more points on the board.
Yoshida was also appreciative of the Japanese community in Toronto, and those from outside of Toronto, who have come out to support them this week.
“We always are so surprised tons of Japanese fans come to watch our games,” Yoshida said with a smile. “Also not only people living in Toronto, some Japanese fans came to Toronto just to watch our games, so we have to win for them.”
Elsewhere in Draw 7, Team Silvana Tirinzoni scored three in the sixth and stole one in the seventh to defeat Team Xenia Schwaller 7-3 in an all-Swiss showdown.
Tirinzoni move up to a 3-0 record while Schwaller, who is making her Grand Slam series debut, dropped to 1-2.
In men’s play, Team Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., earned an 8-5 victory over Winnipeg’s Team Reid Carruthers, skipped by Brad Jacobs.
Gushue, who earned silver at the world championship this past Sunday, rebounded from an 8-5 loss earlier in the day to Scotland’s Team Bruce Mouat to improve to a 2-1 record.
“We’re good. Energy is probably a little bit lower than we would like in an event like this, but we’re doing the best we can when we’re out there,” Team Gushue third Mark Nichols said. “We’re giving ourselves a chance. Brad’s playing really well, so try to leave him with some shots for multiple points. We feel good, obviously not great, but we knew what we were signing up for when we got here.”
Jacobs (1-2) had the hot hand to start and pulled off an amazing shot to score a deuce in the first that set the tone for the latest chapter of the “Battle of the Brads.”
“He’s made a ton of those shots against us over the years, and he’s throwing the rock really well, so sometimes you can’t take it all away,” Nichols said. “In the first end today was a prime example. We guarded and he got a thin slash for two and he nailed it.
“Obviously, you don’t want him attempting them all of the time. He’s going to make more than he’s going to miss, but he’s one of the best players to play the game and he’s making a lot of those shots. You try to put as much pressure on the rest of the team as you can and try not to leave him too many of those.”
Gushue bounced back big time with a solid second end capped with a tap for three points to pull ahead.
Tied 4-4 after five with singles going steady, Gushue grabbed the lead for good in six after Jacobs attempted a double, but his shooter sailed straight through the port untouched. That allowed Gushue an easy open draw to drain another three-pointer.
Jacobs went for another tricky runback in the seventh and couldn’t quite pull it off as planned with Gushue’s rock jamming to hold Team Carruthers to just a single.
That handed Gushue the hammer for the final end, up 7-5, and the 14-time Grand Slam champion added another point without needing to throw his last as Jacobs was unable to sit two for a potential steal to force an extra.
“It feels good. We needed to at least get one win out of our two-game day,” Nichols said. “I think getting to 2-1 now and it’s one game a day for the next couple of days, we can try to get a little more rest. We need at least one more win.”
Italy’s Team Joël Retornaz picked up their first win of the week with a 6-3 decision against Switzerland’s Team Yannick Schwaller. Both clubs are at 1-2.
UP NEXT
The Princess Auto Players’ Championship resumes Thursday with Draw 8 at 8 a.m. ET. Tickets are available at the Mattamy Athletic Centre box office and online at Ticketmaster.ca.
Broadcast coverage begins with Draw 9 at 11:30 a.m. ET on Sportsnet, Sportsnet+ (Canada) and gsoclive.com (international).
NOTES
The Princess Auto Players’ Championship is the fifth and final Grand Slam of Curling event of the 2023-24 season featuring the top 12 men’s teams and top 12 women’s teams from around the world. … Both divisions are split into two pools of six for round-robin play. The best six teams advance to the playoffs with the top two teams receiving byes to the semifinals. If necessary, a tiebreaker round will be played Saturday morning to determine the final playoff berths. … The quarterfinals and semifinals are scheduled for Saturday with the finals on tap Sunday.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Restricted free agent forward Isaac Okoro has agreed to re-sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers on a three-year contract, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press on Saturday.
Okoro’s new deal is worth $38 million, according to the person who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the contract has not been signed or announced by the team.
ESPN.com first reported the agreement, citing Okoro’s representation.
The fifth overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft, Okoro is Cleveland’s best perimeter defender, often drawing the assignment of guarding the opponent’s top scorer. Okoro also has worked to improve his offensive game.
The 23-year-old averaged 9.4 points and 3.0 rebounds in 69 games — 42 starts — last season for the Cavs, who beat Orlando in the opening round of the playoffs before losing to eventual champion Boston.
Okoro shot a career-best 39% on 3-pointers, forcing teams to come out and guard him.
His agreement caps an extraordinarily busy summer for the Cavs that began with coach J.B. Bickerstaff being fired and replaced by Kenny Atkinson. All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell signed a three-year, $150 million extension in July, ending months of speculation that he wanted out of Cleveland.
Also, power forward Evan Mobley signed a five-year, $224 deal and center Jarrett Allen signed a three-year, $91 million extension.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
