Staff
The league’s best regular-season team against its lone expansion team.
It reads like a script for a blowout. Then again, games are never won on paper.
The eighth-ranked Emo Renegades pulled off the first big upset of this year’s Rainy River District Women’s Fastball League playoffs Monday night—upending the top-seeded Fort France Her-icanes 14-11 in second-round action at VanJura here.
The Renegades, who joined the league this season, built a 14-5 lead before having to hang on for dear life in the face of a last-gasp rally by the ’Canes.
Fort Frances, which had a first-round bye, got two-run singles by Stacy Patey and Micaela Jack as part of a six-run seventh inning.
But with two on and the tying run at the plate, Karma Andy completed the rare four-strikeout inning by fanning Jess Woodgate.
The Renegades’ ace needed the extra whiff after blowing strike three past both Charity McMahon and Emo catcher Star Tom on a wild pitch to allow McMahon to reach base earlier in the frame.
Emo jumped on emergency starter Laureen Hill for four runs in the first inning as Tracy Morningstar, the league’s winningest hurler this season, was late to the ballpark due to work commitments.
Morningstar arrived in time to start the second inning, but also arriving was the start of a multitude of defensive breakdowns for the ’Canes, who struggled to a season-high 13 errors.
After Janelle Andy cashed in her sister with an RBI single, she and Laurie Brown ended up scoring on two passed balls by McMahon to make it 7-0.
The Her-icanes battled back to cut the deficit to 9-5 after four innings.
But seven errors over the next two innings, combined with two bizarre sequences, put the ’Canes in a deep hole.
The mistakes only cost the Her-icanes one run in the sixth when Amy Penner misplayed a grounder by Jenni Morrison and fell to the ground before flinging the ball in desperation to first, where Cayley Woolsey couldn’t squeeze it.
Woolsey then tried to gun down Janelle Andy breaking for home but her throw sailed past McMahon to the backstop.
Then in the seventh, Mykenzie Borger was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning before Penner dropped Sam Jibb’s pop-up to second to put two on.
Janel Barker then delivered a solid RBI single to centre to cash in Borger.
Karma Andy followed with a deep fly to right to Taylor Pagee, who looked to have made a spectacular catch while falling to the ground but the ball popped out of her glove.
Umpire Carey Gosselin intially ruled it an out, but then deemed Pagee did not have full possession of the ball long enough.
Jibb raced all the way home on the play while Barker was thrown out at second in the flurry of confusion that ensued.
Janelle Andy then doubled home her sibling before scoring on Brown’s ground-out to second.
The ’Canes now have no more room for error in the double-elimination playoffs.
Their next test set for tonight at 6:30 p.m. at VanJura Park against the 10th-ranked Big Island Wildcats, who forfeited their first-round game to the seventh-seeded Dawson Tigers last Wednesday (July 20).
Emo, meanwhile, advances to the third round in the winner’s bracket next Wednesday to face the fourth-ranked Big Grassy Lynx, who nipped the fifth-seeded Couchiching Lady Raiders 8-7 at home Monday night.
Stacey Jack’s two-run triple in the sixth broke a 6-6 tie.
Nancy Indian then battled through a bout of heat exhaustion that had her dizzy and nauseous in the final inning to hold Couchiching to just one run.
Syd Jones took the loss for Couchiching, which next will host the 11th-ranked Fort Frances Angels tonight at 6:30 p.m.
Other second-round games Monday saw the second-ranked Fort Frances Mud Dogs capitalize on some untimely errors in the latter innings to nip Dawson 10-8 at the St. Francis Sports Field.
The Tigers, without top hitter Shannon Stone available, took a 3-0 lead in the first.
But the Mud Dogs fought back against Tigers’ starter Alicia Anderson while Rachelle Yeo kept her team close until they could take the lead in the sixth.
Dawson tried to come back but Jacki Lampi-Hughes quelled the uprising with a beautiful line drive catch at first base to start an unassisted double play to send the Tigers into a loser’s bracket matchup against the ninth-ranked Sabaskong Tebinaak tonight in Pinewood.
The Mud Dogs, meanwhile, will host the sixth-seeded Red Gut Babes, who beat the Angels in their playoff opener last Wednesday before pushing the defending champion Northwest Bay Beavers to the brink of elimination with a 17-12 victory there Monday.
The Beavers next will host the 12th-ranked Manitou T-Birdies tonight at home, with the loser to be ousted from further contention.
