like a small wood-burning steam locomotive. During her eight years in the league, she was considered by her teammates to be a leader and a positive influence in their dugout. In 1943, Hickson shared catching duties with Dorothy Maguire, while the Belles claimed the first Championship Title in the league's history. This team was characterized by strong pitching, fine defensive play, timely hitting and speed on the bases, enough to win the first half with a 33–10 mark and finish the regular season with an overall record of 55 wins and 38 losses. Mary Nesbitt, a knuckleball lefty and first sacker, posted a 26–13 record and hit .280 in 73 games, while Joanne Winter finished with an 11–11 mark to give Racine a strong one-two pitching staff. Margaret Danhauser, Eleanor Dapkus, Maddy English, Sophie Kurys, Edythe Perlick and Claire Schillace, carried the offensive load and provided a solid defense. In the best-of-five Series, Racine defeated the Kenosha Comets, winners of the second half, 3 games to 0, to clinch the AAGPBL title. Hickson excelled behind the plate in the Series and topped all hitters with a .417 average (5-for-12). Early in the season, Nesbitt and Hickson were referred to as the Belles Chattanooga Battery, because both were discovered by scout Hamilton in there. On July 1 of that year took effect the first All-Star Game of the league, which coincidentally became the first night game ever played at Wrigley Field. The contest was played under temporary lights between two teams composed of Belles and Comets players against South Bend Blue Sox and Rockford Peaches players. After that, the Belles missed the playoffs for the next two years. Then, managed by Leo Murphy the team returned to post season action from 1946 through 1949. With original roster mostly intact in these seasons, the Belles clinched the title in 1946. Racine won first place with a league-best 74–38 record and won the championship over 1945 champion Rockford, four games to two. Racine's Winter collected four wins in all series, including three against Rockford, despite allowing 19 base runners in a 14-inning, 1–0 shutout victory in decisive Game Six. The only run in the marathonic game came in the bottom of the 14th, when Kurys hit a single off Mildred Deegan, then stole second base, and scored on an RBI-single by Betty Trezza. Unfortunately for Deegan, she was the pitching star of the