McCarville on to Scotties semifinal

Thunder Bay has a reason to watch Saturday night’s semifinal at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

Krista McCarville ran former world champion Kelly Scott of Kelowna, B.C. out of rocks in the 10th end, and secured a berth in the semifinal against Kathy O’Rourke’s Prince Edward Island rink with a 6-4 win.

The winner of that game will face defending champion Jennifer Jones in Sunday’s Scotties final.

It was a game McCarville, lead Kari MacLean, second Ashley Miharija and third Tara George took control of in a hurry, despite giving up a single in the first and missing a tap-back for two in the second, settling for one and a 1-1- score.

The struggling Scott team was forced to take a single in the third, and when she failed to make a double in the fourth , McCarville had an easy hit for two and took a 3-2 lead.

Coming out of the break knotted at three and holding the hammer, McCarville played for the blank in the sixth, executing it with a hit and roll. The seventh looked to be much of the same, but when a B.C. guard attempt came up short, the Thunder Bay skip asked George to bury behind it in the rings. After Jeanna Schraeder peeled it away, George’s second stone came up short, giving Scott a pair of guards to work around.

Unfortunately she was heavy on her first rock, leaving it back eight. McCarville came into the house with T-line weight, and when Scott’s final shot came up light, McCarville only needed a piece of the four to score a deuce. She hit the button, and was up 5-3 with three ends to go.

Facing four in the rings in the eighth, Scott drew to the button for one and cut the gap in half.

Scott didn’t make things easy for McCarville in the ninth, forcing a tough, wide-angle draw to the four-foot, but the Thunder Bay skip refused to be unnerved and made the shot to regain a two-point lead heading into the 10th end.

With five Ontario rocks in the house, Schraeder tapped the second shot rock away to lie two. McCarville attempted a double, but missed, leaving an opening for Scott. But her first stone was a little heavy and nestled up next to shot stone, leaving a double for McCarville, a shot she made to end the match.

McCarville beat O’Rourke in the round-robin, downing her 9-3 on Tuesday. The game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. and will be broadcast on TSN.