Woman Wins Minor League Game

July 25, 1998 / 2:53 AM EDT / AP

Ila Borders, the first woman to start a men's minor league baseball game, became the first to win one when Duluth beat Sioux Falls 3-1 on Friday night.

Borders pitched six shutout innings, allowing three hits and two walks while striking out two. She threw 73 pitches, 40 of them strikes.

Three other Dukes pitchers closed out the game.

The crowd of 3,048 stayed long after the game, chanting "Ila! Ila! Ila!"

Borders (1-1) dropped her ERA to 6.04. It was her third start of the season and of her professional career.

She made history a year ago by becoming the first woman to pitch in a regular-season men's professional baseball game.

Borders was the most valuable player on her high school team in Whittier, Calif. After graduating from Whittier College in 1997, she was signed by the Northern League's St. Paul Saints and went to the Dukes in a midseason trade last summer.

The Canaries are owned by Mike Veeck, former owner of the Saints and the man who gave Borders the opportunity to break into the pros last year.