'Roar of the Rings' - Women's Draw 7

Coming into this week, it was generally assumed that 3 losses would be too many, and would leave you on the outside. At the very most, you would need a heap of help to get into a tiebreaker at 4-3. Well…with one draw to go on the women’s side, we’re looking at a scenario where 4 friggin losses might be good enough to stay alive.

That, by some miracle, has kept Jones and Webster alive at 2-4 going into today. Pure crazyness

A 5-way tie for 3rd is in play, and it’s really not that hard for the 3-4 mark to be the tiebreaker. I don’t even want to think about how many tiebreaker games that would take. The 3-4 tiebreaker comes into it if all three of the current (3-3) teams lose. We get to the 5-way tiebreak if:

Webster (2-4) over McCarville (3-3)
Bernard (6-0) over Lawton (3-3)
Jones (2-4) over Kliebrink (4-2)
Scott (1-5) over Holland (3-3)

Anyways, with so much unknown, what do we know?

We know for sure that Bernard will get a chance to play in the finals. She’s clinched first place, and will play on Saturday night no matter what. We also know that Shannon Kliebrink is guaranteed at least a tiebreaker. Her week can’t end this afternoon.

Beyond that….I guess we’ll just have to play the games. Similar to the Men’s, I’m going to just briefly look at each of the eligible playoff teams now:

Women's Draw 7 - 3:00 PM

Bernard (6-0) – Matchup vs. Lawton
Bernard is through to the final, so this game really means nothing to her. If she wins it, it’ll push Lawton to 3-4, and she’ll need help.

Kliebrink (4-2) – Matchup vs. Jones
Shannon is guaranteed a tiebreak, but I’m sure she’d like to avoid that if possible. A win for her puts here into the semi-finals directly. More importantly, she has a chance to end Jones’ week right here. She should take it when she has the chance, as if Jones gets into a tiebreaker she can still win this whole thing. Best put her out of her misery when you can!

Lawton (3-3) – Matchup vs. Bernard
Lawton has the toughest matchup of the 3-3 teams, drawing the undefeated Bernard team. A win puts her into at least a tiebreaker. A loss, and she’ll need the 3-4 playoff scenario to develop. That occurs if McCarville and Holland were to also lose. That would be at least a 4-way tiebreak however, so Lawton would be best servered by just winning!

McCarville (3-3) – Matchup vs. Webster
McCarville blew a bit of a chance last night when she dropped her game to Holland last night. That dropped her back to 3-3, whereas if she’d won she would have guaranteed herself at least a tiebreaker. She gets a chance to rectify that mistake here though, as a win would eliminate Webster (and Jones), and give her at least a tiebreker.

Holland (3-3) – Matchup vs. Scott
Amber Holland gets the only matchup against a team that is out of it in Kelly Scott. However, Scott is clearly still capable of playing spoiler, so Holland will have to take care of business. Holland kept her chances alive by beating McCarville last night, and can guarantee a tiebreaker with a win here. A loss, and she needs Bernard and Webster wins to stay alive.

Jones (2-4) – Matchup vs. Kliebrink
How the hell is Jones still alive? Only two wins all week, and she can still make the playoffs. Just nuts. It won’t be easy though, as Jones needs a win, and then wins from Webster, Bernard AND Scott. Then she has to deal with a 5-way tiebreak. Then the semi’s. Then the finals…it’s a long road…

Webster (2-4) – Matchup vs. McCarville
Similar to Jones, I don’t know how Webster is still alive. She needs a win, and then also wins from Bernard, Jones and Scott to move on. But it can happen.