Joey Payeur
In a tight game, the deciding factor usually revolves around who makes a mistake.
In the case of Monday evening’s Rainy River District Women’s Fastball League playoff game, it was a handful of mistakes.
The top-ranked Redgut Babes capitalized on five errors by the third-seeded Couchiching Lady Raiders in the sixth inning to earn a 5-3 win at Couchiching.
It technically was a home game for Redgut, who had a bye in the first round and were supposed to play the No. 2-ranked Fort Frances Herricanes last Thursday, but had the game changed due to a death on the reserve.
Couchiching, meanwhile, was coming off a win over the fourth-seeded Big Grassy Lynx and debuting brand-new jerseys in front of the Lady Raiders’ faithful on Monday.
But the new threads couldn’t disguise Couchiching’s defensive difficulties with the game tied 3-3 entering the bottom of the sixth.
With one out, Micaela Jack lofted a fly ball to left field that Misty Perreault got a late jump on, then had the ball bounce off her glove and just behind her, allowing Jack to reach second base.
Ange Bruyere followed with a grounder that second baseman Jess Mainville tried to corral but had go off her foot and roll into right field, allowing Jack to come around to score the go-ahead run.
Couchiching starter Darcy Smith looked like she was going to get out of the inning with no more damage after fanning Caroline Chartrand.
But No. 9 hitter Shana Windigo—0-for-2 up to that point—bounced a grounder towards Mainville, who again couldn’t get a handle on the ball.
Mainville then rushed her throw to first baseman Darcy Jones, with the ball going wide of the bag.
Bruyere got the green light to try and score on the play, and did so easily when Jones’ throw home landed well up the third-base line.
In the top of the seventh, Redgut recorded two quick outs before Courtney Easton reached base after Jack misplayed her grounder to second.
Katie Racine then came up and pounded a single to centre, sending Easton to third.
Racine then went to second on defensive indifference after the first pitch to Perreault to put the tying run in scoring position. But Perreault was caught looking for the last of Lynn Windigo’s 12 strikeouts in the game.
The Babes’ flamethrower, who allowed only five hits in going the distance, also was an offensive presence in the game, going 2-for-3.
She started the scoring in the second by singling to left before taking second on a grounder to first and then stealing third.
She then came home when Jones couldn’t squeeze Mainville’s throw after Bruyere’s grounder.
The Lady Raiders rallied to take the lead in the fourth. Easton legged out an infield hit, went to second on a wild pitch, then scampered across the plate thanks to Perreault’s one-out single to centre.
A walk to Smith was followed by an infield fly that wasn’t called which was dropped by Lynn Windigo, who then threw to third to get Perreault out.
Ashley Cederwall then delivered a clutch two-out RBI single that looped over first base and landed in shallow right to put Couchiching up 2-1.
Redgut responded in the bottom half. Lynn Windigo singled to left and then was safe at second after what looked like a sure double play fizzled when Mainville dropped Easton’s throw to second on Jack’s one-out grounder.
Bruyere made the Lady Raiders pay for that miscue by drilling a single to left that was deep enough to score both runners to make it 3-2.
In the fifth, Couchiching’s Erica Jourdain reached on third baseman Krystal Windigo’s error.
Jourdain then stole second, went to third on Easton’s grounder, and scored when Windigo committed her second error of the inning by overthrowing first on Racine’s grounder.
Smith pitched well despite the loss—allowing only four hits while striking out the side in the fifth as part of her six strikeouts in total.
In Monday’s other game, Big Grassy eliminated the fifth-seeded Sabaskong Cougars 22-8, with Karma Andy getting the win over Clarissa Copenace.
Big Grassy now visits Couchiching tomorrow for a 6:30 p.m. battle, with the loser ousted from further playoff contention.
The winner moves into a semi-final showdown on Monday (Aug. 26) versus the loser of tomorrow’s match-up in Redgut between the Babes and Herricanes as both of those teams have yet to lose in the double-elimination playoffs.
The Redgut/Fort winner gets a bye into the championship final next Thursday (Aug. 29).
The Lynx/Lady Raiders encounter will be a rematch of this past weekend’s ‘A’-side final at Big Grassy’s home tournament, which saw the Lynx double the visitors 22-11 to capture the title.
The ‘B’-side trophy went to Hot Buns, which rocked Redgut 35-8 in the consolation final.
Onigaming First Nation will host a six-team women’s and eight-team men’s fastball tournament this weekend.
