Peaking at the right time ended in the Bantam Southerns title for a new Okotoks foursome.
Skip James Ballance, third Andrew Rowan, second Andrew Bailey and lead Sydney Libbus found the right formula down the stretch to produce an undefeated record en route to the Bantam Southerns crown on March 19 at the Coaldale Curling Club.
“Our skip has been playing up in juvenile a bit this year so really we haven’t had this Bantam team together until recently,” said Team Ballance coach Warren Ballance. “Since Sydney came with us we’ve gone 14-and-0 and we’ve won four bonspiels in a row.
“She’s really made a difference since she came on board.”
The back end have been playing together for five years with Bailey joining the roaring game some two seasons ago.
Libbus was the late addition to the squad this season as a former foe in competitions.
“We have been playing against her for probably four years, that’s kind of why I wanted her,” coach Ballance said with a laugh. “We had a really good team dynamic. They all get along, there is no arguments on the game we’re calling, everyone is on the same page.”
On the heels of convincing victories at bonspiels in Nanton, Claresholm and at the districts in Springbank, the Okotoks Curling Club team went into the biggest event of the season with a major pep in its step.
“We’ve played well since Christmas. I would say it’s confidence because we won three bonspiels before this all in a row,” said James Ballance, a Grade 9 student at Okotoks Junior High. “I just tried to get points and we out-hit them.”
Team Ballance opened with an 11-6 triumph over Paige Ainweiler highlighted by a four ender in the eighth, edged the Huntington Hills Curling Club’s Kenan Wipf 5-4 and outlasted Cochrane’s Ky MacAulay to advance to the semifinal.
“They never gave up,” the coach added. “We were down in three of those games after the first couple ends. The first game was the first adversity we had. We went through districts undefeated and really hammered the teams we played against.
“Once we got into southerns, the other teams were playing excellent.”
The Okotoks rink then got by one of the other favourites, Lightbridge’s Josh Kroker, by a 5-4 score won without hammer with a single in the final end.
“They had a tight guard just off the centre line so I tried to draw around it with my first rock and nearly chucked it through,” the skip said. “Then the next one I just through top-four pin. They tried to throw board weight and tap it out for one to win and they missed it.”
The final would prove to be less of a hectic finish.
Team Ballance picked up four in the fourth to take a 7-4 win over Carson Lawrence out of the Calgary Winter Club to complete the flawless playdown performance.
Libbus follows in the footsteps of her older brother Jacob who took home the Bantam Southerns title in 2015 and recently took home the Alberta U18 provincial title.
For more information on the playdowns visit saca.ca/playdowns
