Kerri Einarson’s bid for a four-peat is alive and well, but Jennifer Jones is also a win away from rewriting the record books in Canadian women’s curling.
Six-time national champion Jones booked an express ticket to Sunday’s final of the Scotties Tournament of Hearts when her Manitoba team beat Northern Ontario’s Krista McCarville 8-5 in a Saturday night playoff game in Kamloops, B.C.
Einarson, winner of three straight Hearts, avoided elimination with a 9-4 victory over Nova Scotia’s Christina Black in Saturday’s earlier playoff contest.
Einarson meets McCarville in Sunday afternoon’s semifinal with the winner moving onto face Jones for the title.
Jones will play in her 10th Hearts final. The 46-year-old can become the first woman to win seven Canadian women’s championships.
“It doesn’t feel different because of that. It just feel different because as you get closer to the end of our career, you never know when it could be the last,” Jones said.
Jones employed a five-player rotation with a new team this season. For her teammates under the age of 25, a victory Sunday would be their first Hearts crown.
Team Canada skip Kerri Einarson shouts directions to her teammates in the bronze medal game against Team Sweden at CN Centre during the Women’s World Curling in Prince George, B.C., on Sunday, March 27, 2022. Einarson broke open a close game with four points in the eighth end of a 9-3 victory over Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa at the Pan Continental Curling Championships. THE CANADIAN PRESS/James Doyle
“We’re excited to help her reach that record, but it’s also a big record for us too,” third Karlee Burgess said. “All four of us being so young, being able to win our first Scotties with the best in the world, with Jen, it would be an amazing story.”
Jones recovered from giving up a steal of one in each of the first three ends to McCarville by scoring two in the fourth and stealing one in the fifth and eighth ends.
Tied up coming home, Jones didn’t have to throw her final stone when McCarville was light on a draw.
“We struggled big time and we just kind of got lucky those first three ends,” McCarville said. “We weren’t throwing it very well. We knew we had to pick up and we still didn’t and things started going their way a little bit, but we just have to regroup for tomorrow.”
Jones’ young teammates staying patient when Manitoba trailed was a good dress rehearsal for Sunday, the skip said.
“I think it was massive,” Jones said “For us to kind of start the way we (did), get down a little bit early, and then found a way to hang in there and come back, it will show a lot of character for tomorrow.”
Jennifer Jones will play in her 10th Hearts final. The 46-year-old can become the first woman to win seven Canadian women’s championships Sunday night. (Photo: Twitter@TSNCurling)
EINARSON NEEDS 2 WINS
Einarson, Val Sweeting, Shannon Birchard and Briane Harris need two wins Sunday to be just the second team in history to win four straight. Colleen Jones’ team was the first from 2001 to 2004.
Their semifinal against McCarville is a rematch of last year’s championship game in Thunder Bay, Ont.
Einarson’s foursome recovered from dropping a playoff game to Jones the previous evening — Einarson’s first loss of the tournament — with a commanding performance Saturday.
Einarson also got more run support from her lineup than Black did. Her vice Sweeting and the front end of Birchard and Harris outcurled their Nova Scotia counterparts by several percentage points.
“My team played amazing,” Einarson said. “They definitely outplayed the other team and Christina had a couple of tough ones she had to make to just score, and she made them, but we felt really comfortable out there.”
Sweepers can make or break the outcome of a delivered stone, so Einarson was also the beneficiary of workhorse efforts by Sweeting, Birchard and Harris.
Harris is pregnant and due in June.
“She is a champ. Holy smokes,” Einarson said. “She’s got a little one in her and it’s motivating her to just push through. I don’t think I could do it.”
Einarson took the longer route to last year’s victory in Thunder Bay.
Her team won the sudden-death playoff game, the semifinal and then the final 9-6 over McCarville.
Team Canada at the Scotties, Feb. 25, 2023
“Our backs are against the wall and I know, with us, we never let up,” Einarson said.
“We’re just going to keep grinding it out and playing like we know we can. I feel like this is the best we’ve played yet.”
NOVA SCOTIA HITS THE WALL
Nova Scotia’s marathon, three-game day Friday caught up to them Saturday.
Black stole a point in an extra end in back-to-back playoff games, including a tiebreaker, to make the final four. Black eliminated three-time champ Rachel Homan of Ontario with the second win.
Nova Scotia then lost to McCarville to end up facing three-time champ Einarson on Saturday.
Black’s talent for difficult, pressure draws was on display again Saturday, but she made those shots to simply survive.
Nova Scotia didn’t generate a two-point end with last rock, while Einarson scored deuces with hammer in the third, fifth, seventh and ninth ends.
“I think our fatigue from the three games yesterday kind of set in today,” Black acknowledged. “Our throws were a little bit lighter than we were calling on a few shots.
“They’re an incredible team and they gave us a few chances and we didn’t capitalize. If they give you a little bit of a chance you better capitalize because they don’t give you very many chances.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 25, 2023.
VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Whitecaps will begin their post-season campaign with a play-in game against the Timbers in Portland on Wednesday.
The ‘Caps (13-13-8) ended the regular season with a 2-1 loss to Real Salt Lake on Saturday and finished eighth in Major League Soccer’s Western Conference standings.
The eighth and ninth spots from each conference meet in a play-in game this week, with the winner going on to face the No. 1 seed in the first round of the playoffs.
Each eighth-place team was set to host the play-in game, but Vancouver announced Friday that its home stadium, B.C. Place, is not available, so the club will cede home-field advantage to Portland (12-11-11), the ninth-place team.
The ‘Caps and Timbers split their three-game series during regular-season play, with each side taking a win, a loss and a draw.
The first round of the MLS playoffs is set to begin next weekend.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 19, 2024.
SANDY, Utah (AP) — Diego Luna scored a tying goal in the 73rd minute and Real Salt Lake added another on an own goal for a 2-1 victory over the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday night to set a single-season club record for points.
Real Salt Lake (16-7-11) secured the No. 3 spot in the Western Conference and will face Minnesota in the first round of the Major League Soccer playoffs. RSL reached 59 points this season, topping the 2012 team with 57.
Vancouver (13-13-8) will play the Portland Timbers on Wednesday in a wild-card game for a chance to play top-seeded LAFC.
Luna settled a long cross from Braian Ojeda before taking four touches to slot home a shot inside the far post for his eighth goal of the season.
RSL went ahead in the 83rd when Vancouver goalkeeper Isaac Boehmer misplayed a lofted ball that rolled into the back of the net.
Vancouver midfielder Ryan Gauld opened the scoring in the 58th to become the first player in club history to produce multiple seasons with at least 10 goals and 10 assists.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Juan Soto’s arrival last winter was supposed to be that move that pushed the New York Yankees back to the top.
They’re one step away.
Soto hit a three-run homer with two outs in the 10th inning and the Yankees advanced to their 41st World Series — and first in 15 years — by beating the Cleveland Guardians 5-2 in Game 5 of the AL Championship Series on Saturday night.
Baseball’s biggest brand is going back to October’s main stage.
Soto, who was acquired in a seven-player trade from San Diego in December, pushed the Bronx Bombers into position with one big swing.
This was why he came, for this moment and for so many more.
“We’re right where we belong,” said Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, who pulled off the deal for Soto.
The Yankees will try to win their 28th title against either the New York Mets or Los Angeles Dodgers. Game 6 of the NL Championship Series is on Sunday at Dodger Stadium.
In the third consecutive tight game in three nights at Progressive Field, Austin Wells walked with one out in the 10th and Alex Verdugo followed with a grounder to Guardians second baseman Andrés Giménez, whose soft toss to the bag was dropped by rookie shortstop Brayan Rocchio for an error.
Hunter Gaddis struck out Gleyber Torres and had Soto in a 1-2 count before New York’s stylish outfielder sent a shot over the wall in center. Soto danced down the first-base line and paused to celebrate with his teammates before circling the bases.
“I was just saying to myself, `You’re all over that guy. You’re all over that guy. He ain’t got anything,’” said Soto, who moved alongside his manager, Aaron Boone, as the only New York players to homer in an extra-inning, series-clinching win.
Luke Weaver got the final three outs with Lane Thomas flying out for the last one, which was caught by Soto.
“We get to play for a world championship,” Boone said. “That’s pretty sweet.”
The 25-year-old Soto is eligible for free agency this winter, and Yankees fans chanted “Re-sign Soto!” during the postgame festivities. He’s expected to get a contract upwards of $600 million, and his heroics in Game 5 may have raised his price.
Giancarlo Stanton hit a two-run homer and was named ALCS MVP as the Yankees took care of the Guardians in five games. It wasn’t easy.
New York won the first two at Yankee Stadium without much fanfare or any major drama. However, it was a different story in Cleveland as all three games at Progressive Field were nail-biters.
The Guardians rallied to win Game 3 on two, two-run homers in their last two at-bats, and the Yankees held on to win Game 4 after blowing a four-run lead.
“This was a rollercoaster and we were able to just keep punching back,” Stanton said. “We know there’s much more work to do and it’s only uphill from here and we got to get it done.”
Cleveland just didn’t have enough and a surprising season under first-year manager Stephen Vogt ended just short of a World Series. The franchise remains without a title since 1948, baseball’s current longest drought.
“There’s only one team that gets to win the last game of the year, and unfortunately it’s not going to be us,” Vogt said. “But we accomplished a lot as a group. We got better. We worked extremely hard. I couldn’t be more proud of this group. We just didn’t get quite as far as we wanted to.”
The Yankees are back in the World Series, back where their fans expect them to be every year.
The club’s 82-80, fourth-place finish in the AL East last season led to some “soul searching as an organization” during the winter, according to Boone, who has been widely criticized but is one of just three managers to take New York to playoffs in six of his first seven seasons.
While the team’s core stayed mostly intact, getting Soto in a blockbuster trade on Dec. 7 — New York sent five players to San Diego for the three-time All-Star — accelerated the team returning to title contender.
“That was a good day,” Boone said with a laugh before the game.
Stanton’s 446-foot rocket into the left-field bleachers tied it at 2 in the sixth and chased Tanner Bibee, who had struck out New York’s dangerous DH in his first two at-bats and held the Yankees scoreless for the first five innings.
It was Stanton’s fourth homer in this series — his third in three days — and his 16th in the postseason, moving him into fourth place on the club’s career list behind Bernie Williams (22), Derek Jeter (20) and Mickey Mantle (18).
Before the game, Boone was asked what makes Stanton so good.
“He can hit it harder than anyone, first of all,” Boone said. “So there’s the physical nature of what he does that’s different than just about everyone in the world.”
But Boone went on to compliment Stanton’s discipline at the plate, “his approach, his process, how he studies guys.”
“There’s something that he does when he gets familiarity with people on top of being very physically gifted,” Boone said.
The Guardians took a 2-0 lead in the fifth off Carlos Rodón on Steven Kwan’s RBI single with two outs. But Cleveland missed a big chance for more, leaving the bases loaded when Lane Thomas grounded out on the first pitch to him from Mark Leiter Jr.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Yankees: LHP Nestor Cortes (elbow strain) had another successful live batting practice session. The reliever remains on track to join the Yankees on their World Series roster. Boone said Cortes would throw again early next week. Cortes went 9-10 with a 3.77 ERA in 30 starts.
