Staff
If any team needed a momentum shift, it was the Fort Frances Angels.
The squad snapped an eight-game losing streak with a 14-8 victory over Sabaskong Tebinaak in the final game of the Rainy River District Women’s Fastball League first half on Tuesday at the St. Francis Sports Field.
The Angels (3-8), nabbing their first win since beating the Manitou T-Birdies back on May 10, grabbed sole possession of eighth place heading into the start of the second half of the season this coming Monday.
Caity Visser’s RBI groundout and Avery Sivonen’s two-run single gave the Angels a 3-0 lead in the first.
Last-place Tebinaak (1-9) fought back with two in the second, but a two-out rally produced three runs in the Angels’ half to make it 6-2 lead.
Willow Prince drove in Shay Prince in the third but the Angels then exploded for five more runs in the bottom of the inning.
Taylor Jack and Carly McKinnon each had RBI singles before Rylee Redford crushed a Jarrah Tom offering to the deepest part of the park with two on.
Both runners scored on the triple, with Redford scampering home safely when Prince missed the throw home to make it 11-3.
Tom and Lena Copenace added RBI singles in the fourth.
The teams then exchanged three-run innings to close out the scoring.
Redford went the distance for the win, striking out eight in the process, as Sabaskong suffered its seventh-straight loss.
The league will now split into geographic divisions for the second half of the season, with six teams in the East and five teams in the West playing a round-robin schedule.
In Rainy River District Fastball League action Tuesday, the Barwick Blue Knights moved into a first-place tie with the idle Dawson Tigers after dumping Windey’s Warriors 17-7.
DJ Mosbeck homered for the Knights (9-1) against losing pitcher Marcel Pagee.
Barwick hurler Kevin Gemmell, meanwhile, shrugged off homers by Stu Allen and Ryan Windigo as the eighth-place Warriors (5-6) had their two-game winning streak snapped.
John Desaulniers pitched a gem, and Matt Dunne homered, as the Sight & Sound Wolves (8-2) earned a 6-1 triumph over the Sabaskong Lakers.
Merlin Kelly took the loss for the seventh-place Lakers (5-3), who now have dropped two-straight.
The Fort France Braves (7-0) remained undefeated after a 10-9 win over the Stratton Eagles (6-4), with Cole Tymkin getting the pitching win.
Shelby Nosan took the loss for the Eagles, who slipped to sixth place behind Couchiching after the Raiders (6-3) routed the Sabaskong Goldeneyes 18-6.
Faron Morrisseau and Wade Johnson went deep for the Raiders, with Sheldon Kelly Jr. getting the victory.
Keenan Copenace suffered the loss for the Goldeneyes, who are tied for 11th place with the Manitou Thunderbirds (1-7).
And the Sabaskong Cubs finally made it into the win column, while also climbing out of the league basement, with a 22-8 thrashing of the Northwest Bay Juniors.
Kevin Copenace got the win for the Cubs (1-9) while Domi Allan’s homer wasn’t enough to make a winner out of pitcher Dan Andy and the now last-place Juniors (0-8).
Manitou had its game against the Rainy River Royals postponed.
The league resumes action tonight at 7 p.m. with five games, including the Braves and Lakers battling at VanJura.
A doubleheader at Couchiching will see the Raiders host Stratton before Windey’s welcomes Rainy River.
Dawson travels to Northwest Bay to face the Juniors while the Cubs also are in Northwest Bay play the Chieftains.
Sight & Sound, Barwick, Manitou, and the Goldeneyes all have byes.
