Staff
There was no shortage of courage for the Couchiching Lady Raiders, only a shortage of runs.
The No. 5-ranked Lady Raiders almost came all the way back from an eight-run deficit, but wound up losing 11-6 to the top-seeded Fort Frances Her-icanes to be eliminated from the Losers Side bracket of the Rainy River District Women’s Fastball League playoffs last night at VanJura Park.
Dana Ward (2-for-5, team-high four RBI) led off for the ’Canes in the first with a sharp liner to centre that just tipped off the glove of Mallory Morrisseau to put Ward on second.
Jess Woodgate followed with a grounder to the hole at short which normally surehanded shortstop Stephanie Racine had difficulty with for another error.
After a fielders’ choice, Stacy Patey scraped the summer sky with a towering double over the head of Jen Singleton in left to bring home Woodgate.
With two out, Laureen Hill (2-for-4, two RBI) pounded a hard grounder in the hole between first and second to plate Tracy Morningstar and Patey for a 3-0 lead.
Caylee Woolsey (2-for-2, reached in all four plate appearances) then belted a 1-1 pitch that took one hop and smashed into the lower left leg of Couchiching starter Syd Jones, who collapsed on impact as Woolsey reached first.
After icing the leg while on the mound for a few minutes, Jones hobbled off under her own steam, seemingly taking her team’s hopes with her as the squad’s lone regular pitcher this season.
Racine, who earlier in the day had strained her right forearm and already had some previous shoulder issues in the same arm, bravely took over to try and keep the Lady Raiders’ hopes alive.
The righthander got out of the first on an Amy Penner groundout, then held the league’s No. 1-ranked offence during the regular season (228 runs) to just one in the second when Erika Jourdain’s throw from the hot corner on a Morningstar grounder sailed over Darcy Jones at first to plate Woodgate.
Racine got a quick two outs in the third until her shoulder betrayed her, leading to her walking five of the next seven batters.
Combined with an error to second baseman Mandi Olson, a two-run single by Ward (the only hit Racine allowed) and a wild pitch that scored Ward and suddenly it was 8-0.
With the disappointment she couldn’t hang in longer etched on her face, Racine went back to short and turned the ball over to catcher Courtney Easton, who had just one prior pitching appearance this year before coming out from behind the plate last night.
Easton induced a groundout from Charity McMahon with the only batter she faced to escape further damage.
Then, like a scene out of a John Wayne movie, there was Syd Jones taking herself and her injured leg back out on the hill in the bottom of the fourth to try and will her team back from the cliff’s edge.
What followed was two gutsy shutout innings of work, punctuated by right fielder Ashley Morrison’s outstanding catch and then throw to second to gun down Morningstar for an inning-ending double play in the fifth.
That paved the way for a big Lady Raiders rally in the fifth.
With one out, Racine’s grounder bounced past Woodgate at short for an error, with the Couchiching speedster subsequently stealing second and then taking third when McMahon’s throw down veered wide of the bag and into centre.
Singleton directed a single into right to allow Racine to race home for the Lady Raiders’ first run of the night.
Jourdain then took one for the team, getting a fastball in the leg to get on before being pinch-run for by Kamryn Sandelovich.
Darcy Jones then knocked one back to Morningstar, who threw to McMahon at the plate who then went down to Ward at third and trap Singleton in a rundown.
But the outfielder jetted home when Ward’s toss back to McMahon pulled the catcher off the plate to make it 8-2.
Sandelovich then motored in on a wild pitch, setting the stage for Syd Jones to crank a two-run double to left to slice the lead to 8-5, sending the Couchiching bench and fan section in the stands into a frenzy of vocal optimism.
Morningstar dug in her cleats and got Morrisseau and Morrison to ground out to Woodgate to derail the threat.
Ward hen delivered her most important hit so far this season.
With two out and two in scoring position, the ‘Canes All-Star jumped on an 0-2 pitch and torched it up the middle to bring in Woolsey and Penner for some much needed breathing room at 10-5.
Woodgate then lifted a single to right and when the ball eluded Morrison for the Lady Raiders’ ninth error of the contest (at least one in every inning), Ward turned on the afterburners and scored while Woodgate ended up at third.
In the seventh, Racine legged out an infield hit and stealing second before moving to third on a groundout and scoring on a wild pitch.
Jourdain looked to extend the late charge, but Penner stirred memories of a young Roberto Alomar via an outstanding diving backhand glove stop that she then flipped from her knees to Woolsey at first for the final out.
Morningstar got the win, finishing with a five-hitter along with three walks and three strikeouts.
Syd Jones took the loss, giving up eight hits and six runs in 3 2/3 innings.
Fort Frances will now host another win-or-go-home clash on Monday in a Losers’ Side third-round meeting with the fourth-seeded Big Grassy Lynx, who fell 4-2 in a Winners’ Side semifinal at home last night to this year’s Cinderella story, the No. 8-rated Emo Renegades.
Emo’s Karma Andy and Big Grassy’s Nancy Indian engaged in a five-star pitching duel as the road warrior Renegades, now 3-0 in the postseason, will visit the No. 6-seeded Red Gut Babes on Monday in the Winners’ Side title game.
Red Gut used shutout pitching from Lynn Windego and four multiple-run innings to blank the No. 2-rated Fort Frances Mud Dogs 12-0 in a Winners’ Side semifinal on Tuesday at St. Francis Sports Field.
Windego allowed just three hits in a masterful performance, highlighted by a bases-loaded strikeout of Missy Nelson to close out the fifth and a game-ending strikeout of Jess Taggart in the seventh.
Rachelle Yeo, fighting the effect of three blisters on her pitching hand after her and teammate Heather Johnson spent two hours that afternoon raking the field into playable condition, took the loss.
The Mud Dogs will play defending champion and third-seeded Northwest Bay Beavers back at St. Francis on Monday in the other Losers’ Side third-round match-up.
Northwest Bay was relentless in a 28-1 dismantling at home of the No. 9-ranked Sabaskong Tebinaak last night to finish off Sabaskong’s year.
Darcy Smith got the win over Janet Bob in the mound matchup.
