Van Osch has nationals in sights
The Van Osch clan is one win away from qualifying as the host team for the national Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Penticton this month.
Skip Kesa Van Osch, along with sisters Marika (at third) and Kalia (second), and lead Amy Gibson, throttled Kamloops’ Karla Thompson 10-4 in eight ends in the 2018 B.C. Scotties Women’s Curling Championship’s Page 1-2 playoff game Saturday afternoon.
It was a clinical display of curling early on by the Nanaimo crew, which took advantage of a shaky start by Thompson.
Kesa Van Osch now has a chance to represent B.C. at nationals, as she did in 2014 while curling out of the Victoria Curling Club with Steph Jackson-Baier, Jessie Sanderson and Carley Sandwith.
“It hasn’t really sunk in that [today] is the final, but it is cool that we won,” said Kesa Van Osch, who took advantage of Thompson’s trouble early on.
“She was definitely more of a favourite then we were coming in. We qualified dead stinking last out of the last regional and she had the second seed out of the first regional.
“It’s a little unreal at the moment. It would be really nice to go [to nationals] again and I can’t think of a bunch of better people that I would love to go with,” Van Osch said of her team. “Who doesn’t want to be the home team? That would be awesome.”
This one got away from Thompson early. Looking to blank the first end with a hit and roll out of the house, the Kamloops skip actually hit and stuck to take a 1-0 lead. Van Osch roared back with a deuce in the second end and the game then turned in the third.
Facing four red stones, Thompson’s draw for one — which actually had some backing with a Van Osch rock at the back of the four foot — slid by and through to allow a steal of four and a 6-1 disadvantage.
A chance for three in the next end also went awry as Thompson’s hit and stick on a Van Osch stone at the back of the house, rolled out to settle for two. Thompson never really recovered as she personally struggled, curling 63 per cent.
“I wasn’t thinking about the backing. I just threw a little heavy, that’s all,” Thompson said. “As soon as I knew it was heavy, I was like: ‘Oh, oh.’ I knew it was going to curl past the back one, too.” Thompson does have a second life, however, as she will meet Corryn Brown, also of Kamloops, in the semi-final this morning at 11 at the Victoria Curling Club. Brown downed last year's provincial runner-up, Diane Gushulak of the Royal City club, 7-6 in the Page 3-4 game Saturday night.
“The girls played well, I just wasn’t capping it off,” said Thompson, who took the loss on her shoulders. “I hate to let my team down, but it happens. You’re never going to always have your best game and I guess if I’m going to have a not-so-great game, it’s when you have a second life.”
The Van Osch crew advances straight to the 4 p.m. final today against the winner of this morning’s semi. The foursome clearly played like the pressure was on Thompson, who finished first in the round-robin at 6-1 while Van Osch was in a three-way tie at 5-2. They advanced to the Page 1-2 game because of draw-to-the-button distances measured in each warm-up during the round-robin.
“We were expecting that we might get the third or even fourth spot, but back in junior our coach always told us: ‘Your draw to the button [which is sometimes used to break ties] is hugely important.’ ”