By Scott Roblin

Kleibrink & Sweeting punch playoff tickets at Alberta Scotties

Jan 13, 2018 | 5:18 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – The playoff stage is set at the 2018 Alberta Scotties Tournament of Hearts at the Medicine Hat Curling Club, as four teams remain from the field of 12.

On Saturday afternoon, the finals of the ‘C’ and ‘D’ brackets were held with the final two spots in the knockout stage up for grabs.

In the ‘C’ final, defending champion Shannon Kleibrink was looking to punch her ticket into the 3/4 play-in game, but had to get past the Delia DeJong rink from Sexsmith.

Holding a 2-1 lead in the third end, Kleibrink scored four to increase her lead to 6-1 and take control of the match.

DeJong was able to cut Kleibrink’s lead to 7-4 in the sixth end, but that’s as close as she would come with both rinks shaking hands after the ninth end in a 10-6 win for Team Kleibrink.

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After losing the ‘B’ bracket final to Casey Scheidegger, the Val Sweeting rink had another shot at the playoff round on Saturday in an all-Edmonton ‘D’ bracket final versus the Laura Crocker rink.

A three-spot in the third end gave Sweeting a 3-1 lead, but Crocker answered back with singles in the fourth and fifth ends to tie the game at 3-3.

From there, the two sides traded the hammer with Sweeting leading by a score of 6-4 entering the ninth end.

Crocker score a single in the ninth to make it a one-point game, but couldn’t find the equalizer in the tenth with Sweeting advancing to the playoff stage with a 6-5 victory.

That sets up a 3/4 playoff game on Saturday at 6:30 pm between Team Kleibrink and Team Sweeting, with the winner advancing to Sunday’s semi-final.

Also on the Medicine Hat Curling Club ice on Saturday will be the 1 vs. 2 playoff game between top-seed Chelsea Carey and Scheidegger.

The winner between Team Carey and Team Scheidegger will earn a spot in the Alberta Scotties championship final.