1977 World Series

FALCONS GO FOR TWO AGAINST THE LIONETTES

By virtue of a first place finish for the season, the Connecticut Falcons earned an automatic berth in the 1977 World Series. Their opponent would be the winner of a three night, round robin format playoff featuring the St. Louis Hummers, San Jose Sunbirds and Santa Ana Lionettes. The Lionettes won the three of four games they played to win the playoff and will take on the defending champion Connecticut Falcons.

The Lionettes are led on the mound by Donna Lopiano, who notched 22 wins and led the league in strikeouts with 199. Charlotte Graham, who helped lead the San Jose Sunbirds to the series last year, holds down the number two spot on the Lionettes’ talent-laden staff.

The Falcons have some fine pitching talent as well. Joan Joyce 24-4 led the league in wins for the second straight year, as well as having the best ERA (1.03) and the most shutouts (12). Donna Terry also had a fine season posting a 13-7 mark. Kathy Neal, Sandy Fischer and Gloria Becksford will also see pitching duties for the Falcons.

1977 World Series Game #1 – Santa Ana 7, Connecticut 3

Hits came early and hard as the Santa Ana Lionettes combined offense with Connecticut Falcon errors to seize a first-game, 7-3 win in the best-of-five Women’s Pro Softball World Series.

Lionette bats cracked for three straight doubles in the first inning off of Joan Joyce. Vicki Schneider doubled and later scored on a double by Debbie Van Deusen. Van Deusen then scored on a double by Linda McMorran. Joyce managed to escape the inning with a fly to left and a pop to third base.

The Falcons scored a run in the second, when they pushed Willie Roze around without a benefit of a hit. Roze walked to open the inning and advance to second on a wild pitch from Lionette hurler Donna Lopiano. A sacrifice fly by Donna Terry brought Roze home.

Santa Ana poured across three more runs in the third inning, but all were unearned. Debbie Allen hit a double followed by Schneider who reached on an error. Van Deusen singled scoring Schneider. Linda McMorran reached on an error and Van Deusen scored the fifth run on a single by Mickey Davis.

Van Deusen completed the Santa Ana scoring with a home run. The homer also brought Debbie Allen in after she walked to start the inning.

The Falcons managed two more runs in the ninth inning. Joyce Compton doubled to left, and scored on a single by Roze. Roze stole second, went to third on a wild pitch and later scored on a sacrifice bunt by Sharon Backus.

1977 World Series Game #2 – Connecticut 4, Santa Ana 2

Designated hitter Joan Joyce drove in three runs with a home run and double to power the Connecticut Falcons to a 4-2 win over the Santa Ana Lionettes and pull the Falcons even in the best-of-five series.

Following a single by Audi Kujala, Joyce lined a 2-1 pitch off loser Charlotte Graham over the fence to give the Falcons a quick 2-0 lead. She then popped a double down the leftfield line in the seventh to drive in an insurance run and back the steady pitching of winner Sandy Fischer and reliever Donna Terry.

Graham pitched consistently throughout the contest, yielding only six hits and striking out seven. She gave up an unearned run in the fifth before a walk to Kathy Stilwell preceded Joyce’s seventh-inning double.

In the fifth inning, Stilwell beat out an infield hit, moved to second on an error and then scored on an error on Joyce Compton’s two-out grounder.

In the sixth, Mickey Davis reached on a fielder’s choice and scored on Rosie Adams’ two-out single to cut the Falcons lead to 3-1.

In the seventh, Debbie Allen beat out an infield single and Vicki Schneider reached base when Fischer misfired to first after fielding her sacrifice bunt to put runners on first and third. Debbie Van Deusen lofted a sacrifice fly to score Allen and then Linda McMorran doubled putting runners on second and third. Donna Terry replaced Fischer on the mound and got the final two outs without any more runners scoring. From there on Terry pitched one-hit relief to notch a save.

1977 World Series Game #3 – Connecticut 5, Santa Ana 1

The fans were packed to the rafters, crowding into the general admission seats and standing two rows deep beyond the outfield fence. They’d all come with a good knowledge of the law of averages: the chances of Joan Joyce pitching two consecutive bad games are, at best, nonexistent. Especially in the World Series.

And the Connecticut Falcon ace didn’t let them down, as she recovered from an opening night loss to beat the Lionettes 5-1 giving the Falcons a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series.

Joyce wasn’t as sharp as she could have been issuing three walks and hitting two batters. But the Lionettes never seriously threatened and could only manage four hits.

The Falcons struck for two runs off Donna Lopiano in the second inning. Joyce Compton and Willie Roze both singled and scored on an error. Connecticut scored three more runs in the fourth inning. After Donna Terry walked, Sharon Backus singled to center. Snooki Mulder walked loading the based for Joyce. Joyce singled scoring two runs.

Santa Ana rallied for their only run in the fifth on an RBI single by Debbie Van Deusen.

1977 World Series Game #4 – Connecticut 1, Santa Ana 0

The Connecticut Falcons captured their second consecutive World Series crown by scoring one run against the Lionettes. The single tally and strong five hit shutout performance by winning pitcher Donna Terry were all the Falcons needed to take the crown—winning three straight games after losing the opener in the best-of-five series.

The Falcons scored the game’s only run in the third when, with one out, Kathy Stilwell doubled and later scored on an error.

To read news articles about the 1977 IWPS World Series, see below.