WHITBY – When lunch time rolled around at the Whitby Curling Club on Friday, Danielle Inglis found her team in a position they never thought possible a couple of months ago.
Inglis and her team of third Jessica Corrado, second Stephanie Corrado, and lead Cassandra de Groot had just spent the morning scoring a 6-3 win over Allison Flaxey in the A-event final at the Ontario Scotties Tournament of Hearts to put themselves directly into Saturday’s Page 1-2 playoff game.
“We’re really excited,” Inglis said. “We’ve been on our game this whole week.”
Inglis scored two in the third and sixth ends but more importantly, they held Flaxey to three singles. In the tenth with Inglis lying a stone in the button, Flaxey tried to play a raise which was not close, leading to a steal and a win over one of the tournament favourites.
“Team Flaxey was at the Roar of the Rings so we know they always bring their A game so we had to bring our A plus game,” Inglis said.
Inglis, who happens to be a native of Whitby, is in her second Scotties as a skip, fourth overall. Her team from the Dixie Curling Club in Mississauga was just formed this year and things didn’t go well at the start.
“We had a rough start,” she said. “Our bonspiel season, we didn’t do well at all, qualifying for only one event.”
“But once we were able to get on the ice and practice, it changed a lot for us. We were always planning to be here and we knew that we just had to peak at the right time.”
Inglis is also part of the reigning Canadian mixed champions as part of the Mike Anderson that won the title in November.
She will face Cathy Auld in the Page 1-2 game. Auld advanced to the B final beating Jacqueline Harrison 9-3 with a steal of three in the second and two more in the seventh. Then she defeated Flaxey 9-4, breaking the game open with four in the seventh and a steal of two in the eighth. Flaxey advanced to the B final with a 10-4 win over Julie Tippin by scoring four in the third and three in the ninth.
Tippin’s run at the Scotties ended in the evening when she lost 8-4 to Hollie Duncan. Harrison recovered to beat Sherry Middaugh 5-4, ending the four-time provincial champion’s run.
Heather Heggestad also moved on in the C event with two wins, a victory over Kirsten Marshall in the afternoon and a 5-2 win over Chrissy Cadorin to close the day. Cadorin had earlier eliminated Katelyn Wasylkiw from the event.
Heggestad will face Flaxey and Duncan will play Harrison in the C event finals at 10 a.m.. The winners will play in the Page 3-4 game on Saturday nigh at 7:30. The Page 1-2 game starts at 2:30 p.m. The semifinal and final will take place on Sunday.