Hailey McFarlane and her team from Neepawa are alone in first place in the standings after the first round of play in the championship round of the RME Women of the Rings Championship presented by Case IH.
McFarlane’s 9-8 win over Beth Peterson Friday evening in Pilot Mound gave her a 5W-1L record, a win ahead of the other five teams who share second place in the standings with 4W-2L records. The Kate Cameron and Kristy Watling teams came into the second round of play with 3W-2L records. Cameron defeated Darcy Robertson and Watling was victorious over Lisa McLeod to create the 5-team tie.
Three teams from each of the two pools advanced from the preliminary round into the championship round where they play three cross-over games against the teams from the other pool. Three teams will advance to the Sunday playoffs.
The top teams in the Asham Pool were Lisa McLeod (Pembina) and Hailey McFarlane (Neepawa), both with 4W-1L records. McLeod was awarded the #1 ranking in the group thanks to a win over McFarlane on the opening draw of the competition Wednesday morning. Top seed Kate Cameron (Heather) missed her chance at the top ranking with an 8-7 extra end loss Friday to McLeod.
The top teams in the Asham Ultra Force Pool were three-time former champion Darcy Robertson and #2 seed Beth Peterson (both Assiniboine Memorial) who also had 4W-1L records. Robertson got the #1 rank in the group because she beat Peterson on Wednesday evening in a game in which her team came back from four down twice. Third seed Kristy Watling (East St. Paul) finished third in the pool with a 3W-2L record.
The teams will play two games Saturday, at 10AM and 4PM, to determine the playoff positions. If necessary, one tiebreaker game will be played Saturday evening. The playoffs are scheduled for 9:30AM and 2:00PM Sunday.
