Joey Payeur
Lynn Windigo raced down Highway 502 from her home near Dryden, rushed into the parking lot of the Rodrick and Telford Bruyere Ballfield on Couchiching First Nation, jumped out of her car, and went right onto the diamond with her team already getting ready for the top of the first.
The Redgut Babes’ pitcher proceeded to prove pre-game warm-up sometimes can be highly over-rated.
Windigo tossed a three-hit complete game, with only one walk while fanning 12, to lead Redgut to an 11-3 win over the Fort Frances Herricanes in the final of the Rainy River District Women’s Fastball League last Thursday evening.
Then, after posing for a quick team photo and declining an interview, poof, she was gone—like Keyzer Soze in the film, “The Usual Suspects.”
But not before leaving her opponents shaking their heads at what they had just witnessed.
“I knew we were going to have a tough game with Lynn pitching,” said Herricanes’ coach Don Tucker.
“She’s probably the premier pitcher in the district.
“I’m not disappointed at all,” Tucker added. “[The title] went to the best team.”
Windigo whiffed six-straight batters at one point, including the rare feat of striking out four in one inning in the second.
After striking out her mound opponent, Laureen Hill, Windigo blew strike three past Dana Ward. But catcher Morningstar Tom dropped the ball and then airmailed a throw over the head of first baseman Caroline Chartrand to allow Ward to reach base.
Undaunted, Windigo promptly struck out Ang Aucoin and Beulah Perreault swinging to end the inning.
The righthander, who sat down the last eight batters she faced, also was a force at the plate—going 3-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs scored.
Babes’ centre-fielder Micaela Jack, who chipped in with a 3-for-3 night and three RBIs, spoke on behalf of Windigo and all her teammates who captured the first women’s fastball crown handed out in the district in about 30 years.
“I think everyone played good,” said Jack, who fell a home run short of hitting for the cycle.
“Our defence and batting, but we were especially good on our bats,” she noted.
“It feels pretty good. It was a good accomplishment for us,” Jack added. “We worked hard.”
Redgut opened the scoring in the bottom of the first on what was more a football play than a fastball one.
Tom singled and stole second with Alyssa Windigo at the plate, who then grounded out to shortstop. Tom dashed for third after the throw to first, where Caylee Woolsey collected the toss and then fired back to third.
But Tom collided with third baseman Gina Pope covering the bag on the play, allowing the ball to roll to the fence near the dugout and Tom to get up quickly to race home for a 1-0 lead.
The Herricanes rallied with a pair in the third. After two quick outs, Charity McMahon reached safely when Chartrand couldn’t squeeze the throw from Alyssa Windigo at short after she scooped up McMahon’s grounder.
McMahon stole second and subsequently scored on an RBI single by Pope, who wound up at third on the play after a late throw home and then a bad throw to second.
Candy Greengrass-Teeple stepped up and hit a laser that got underneath the outstretched gloves of both of the left-side infielders to bring in Pope for a 2-1 edge.
Back came Redgut in the home half of the third—sparked by an unexpected display of thievery from No. 9 hitter Shana Windigo.
After leading off the inning with a walk, she stole second and then third, catching the Herricanes by surprise both times.
Tom then doubled to left to tie the game, but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple on a perfect relay from Aucoin to Pope.
Alyssa Windigo then reached base when Greengrass-Teeple’s throw from short was too low for Woolsey to snag at first.
After taking second on a wild pitch by Hill, the shortstop scored when Lynn Windigo looped a single that fell just out of the reach of McMahon, who got the call in centre for injured starter Barb McQuaker (sprained ankle).
Jack then drilled a double over Aucoin’s head in left to bring in Lynn Windigo and make it 4-2 for the Babes.
Fort Frances replied in the fourth, with Ward earning a lead-off walk and then moving to second and then third on a passed ball and wild pitch, respectively.
Perreault then laced a one-out single down the left-field line to bring in Ward and cut the lead to one.
The turning point came in the bottom of the inning, with the Babes scoring four runs to break open what had been a nail-biter.
Chartrand led off with a double and eventually scored from third when another low throw by Greengrass-Teeple on Tom’s grounder eluded Woolsey.
Alyssa Windigo then found the gap for an RBI triple to make it 6-3.
Kayla Windigo later walked before Hill, who was suffering leg fatigue before the game that appeared to put a dent in her velocity throughout the night, gave up an RBI single to Lynn Windigo and an RBI fielder’s choice to Jack to boost the lead to 8-3.
“With Lynn, that inning picked her up and she just started throwing harder,” noted Tucker.
Greengrass-Teeple agreed.
“You don’t want to let them get that much ahead when you’re struggling to hit their pitcher,” she reasoned.
“Giving up four is tough to come back from, although you never know.”
The Babes tacked on three in the sixth. Kayla and Lynn Windigo hit back-to-back triples, with Jack following with an RBI single.
Then with one out, Krystal Windigo beat out an infield hit and Woolsey’s throw home to try and nail Jack went wide of catcher Gina Wyder, who had come in for Ward behind the plate in the fifth.
Lynn Windigo took it from there—finishing the game fittingly with strikeouts of Andrea Sweigard and then McMahon.
The loss didn’t dampen Greengrass-Teeple’s view of the rebirth of women’s fastball in the region nor her excitement for next season, when the league possibly could double in size from its current five teams.
“I’m the oldest one on this team and when I moved here [from Manitoba], there was no fastball,” she noted.
“[The league] has revived something in me . . . all of us have that fire.
“This league will not die,” Greengrass-Teeple stressed. “[League organizer] Holly [Cogger] has done a wonderful job and I thank her for it because we’re in it for the long haul.
“This is going to go on for a long time.”
