Staff
They clawed away but just couldn’t muster up quite enough offence in the end.
The Fort Frances Her-icanes fought valiantly but an early 6-0 deficit was just too much to overcome as they dropped a 10-8 decision to the Couchiching Raiders in Rainy River District Women’s Fastball League action on Monday night at VanJura.
The league-leading Raiders (11-1) didn’t take long to jump on Her-icanes’ starter Marissa Kerry as Grace Bragg singled and Steph Legree drew a walk to start the game.
A groundout by Darcy Jones later in the frame opened scored Jones before another Summer Leonard tacked on another run with an RBI single to centre.
The Raiders added another run later in the frame to lead 3-0.
Kerry singled for the ‘Canes (9-2-1) in the bottom half off Bragg, but she rebounded with a strikeout of Jess Woodgate.
Then after she got Dana Ward to flyout, Bragg was able to end the inning with a punchout of Taylor Sears.
Kerry was able to retire the side in order in the second, but the Her-icanes still couldn’t muster anything off of Bragg.
The Raiders offence clicked again in the third as Bragg singled, Legree was hit by a pitch, and Jenn Singleton singled to load the bases and chase Kerry from the pitching rubber.
Mariah Leahy then took over for the ‘Canes but uncorked a wild pitch as the Raiders went up by four.
Leahy got Jones to popout but another wild pitch allowed Legree to trot home.
Leonard then ripped another RBI single to cash Singleton in as the Raiders took a commanding 6-0 lead.
Bragg and Leahy then traded scoreless innings–with Leahy striking out the side in the fourth.
The ‘Canes’ offence suddenly sparked to life in the bottom half as they plated four runs to trim it to 6-4.
Leahy smacked an RBI single to cash in Ward who had hit a one-out single before she also came around to score after Charity McMahon singled and the Raiders’ defence made a few throwing errors.
Stacy Patey then cranked an RBI single to cash McMahon in before another run tallied later in the frame off of a wild pitch.
Jones cranked an RBI double in the fifth to score Bragg as the Raiders went back up by three.
Sears came through with an RBI double to deep centre field in the bottom half before stealing home to trim it to 7-6.
But showing their resilience, the Raiders scored two runs in the sixth to go back up 9-6.
Kerry clubbed a two-run double in the seventh to make it a one-run game once again but Couchiching rounded out the scoring with an RBI triple in the seventh.
Sears drew a one-out walk before Leahy got aboard with an infield single in the bottom half, but Bragg was able to keep the ‘Canes at bay as she struck out McMahon and got Patey to ground out to end the game.
Kerry was charged with six runs over two innings to take the loss while Bragg nabbed the win for the Raiders.
In other games on Monday night, the Dawson Tigers rolled to convincing decision over the Manitou T-Birdies to nab just their third win of the season.
Alicia Anderson garnered the win for the Tigers (3-9) over Angel Medicine of the T-Birdies (1-10).
Hailey Bombay also homered in a losing cause for Manitou.
The red-hot Northwest Bay Beavers cruised to their seventh win in a row over the Fort Frances Angels.
Darcy Smith earned the win for the Beavers (9-3) over Raelle Redford of the Angels (3-8-1).
The Fort Frances Mud Dogs (4-5-2) at Red Gut Babes (1-6-3) and Big Grassy Lynx (5-4-1) at Sabaskong Tebinaak (2-8) games were postponed and will be rescheduled for later in the season.
The Renegades (9-1) had the bye.
There are five games on the slate tonight, all starting at 7 p.m. (weather permitting).
The Mud Dogs will welcome the Angels to the St. Francis Sports Field in an all-Fort battle, Red Gut will head to Couchiching to take on the Raiders, the Beavers will look to run their win streak to eight at home against the Her-icanes, the Renegades will host the Tebinaak in Barwick, and the Lynx will battle the T-Birdies.
The Tigers have the bye.
