Staff
The Couchiching Lady Raiders won their regular-season finale but wound up on the wrong end of a three-team tiebreaker that saw them miss out on a first-round playoff bye.
Sydney Jones pitched the Lady Raiders to a 10-5 victory over the host Red Gut Babes in Rainy River District Women’s Fastball League action last night.
Alyssa Windego was tagged with the loss as the Babes dropped their fourth-straight game.
With the win, the Lady Raiders tied the Fort Frances Her-icanes and Fort Frances Mud Dogs for the best record in the East Division in the second half at 4-1.
But it was another two teams that ended up still holding the advantage over Couchiching in the overall standings.
The Lady Raiders, the defending champion Northwest Bay Beavers, and the Big Grassy Lynx all completed their regular seasons with 11-5 records, with Big Grassy getting a forfeit win last night over the Sabaskong Tebinaak.
League bylaws state head-to-head records are the first tiebreaker.
But due to the uneven number of games played among the three teams, RRDWFL president Stacy Patey and past president Candy Teeple decided this morning that the next tiebreaker would be total runs scored by each one during the entire regular season.
That allowed Northwest Bay to get the nod for third place with 208 runs while Big Grassy was awarded fourth (200).
Couchiching wound up in fifth place (185).
With the top four teams getting a first-round bye, the Lady Raiders now will have to play the 12th-place Manitou T-Birdies in one of four opening-round playoff games this Wednesday (June 20).
Northwest Bay and Big Grassy join the top-seeded Her-icanes and the second-ranked Mud Dogs in getting the byes.
Despite last night’s loss, Red Gut earned the tiebreaker for sixth place over Dawson due to beating the Tigers in their only head-to-head matchup this season.
The Emo Renegades are set in eighth place but ninth is still up for grabs between Sabaskong and the Big Island Wildcats, who are slated to play tonight.
The Fort Frances Angels and T-Birdies round out the standings.
