Inez Voyce
| Inez Voyce | |||
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| All-American Girls Professional Baseball League | |||
| First base | |||
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Born: August 16, 1924 Rathbun, Iowa |
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| debut | |||
| 1946 | |||
| Last appearance | |||
| 1953 | |||
| Teams | |||
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| Career highlights and awards | |||
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Inez Ferne Voyce [Lefty] (born August 16, 1924) is a former first basewoman who played from 1946 through 1953 in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 6", 148 lb., she batted and threw left-handed.
A native of Rathbun, Iowa, Voyce began playing sandlot ball with her brothers at a very early age and listened to radio broadcasts of Chicago Cubs games. She spent her student years attending Seymour grade school and high school, and played on the girls' basketball and softball teams. She later attended business college at American Institute of Commerce in Davenport from 1942 to 1943.
After graduating, Voyce enlisted as an apprentice in the Navy. She served as a secretary to the legal officer at Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco, California, attaining the rank of second class yeoman, and working from 1944 to 1946. At the time of her discharge, Voyce received an invitation to attend a tryout with the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League during the 1946 spring training, which was held in Pascagoula, Mississippi. She made the grade and was assigned to the South Bend Blue Sox.
In 1946 Voyce hit a .210 average in 104 games for South Bend. The team advanced to the playoffs, but lost to the Racine Belles in the first round. She was traded to the Grand Rapids Chicks at the end of the season. After being traded, Voyce emerged as one of the most dynamics hitters in the league, helping the Chicks to capture two titles and making each playoff in her seven-year tenure with the team. In 1947 she hit .214 in 113 games and finished third in runs batted in (45), providing a one-two punch along with versatile Connie Wisniewski (.291, 24 RBI), to support a pitching staff consisting of Mildred Earp (20-8), Alice Haylett (19-11) and Wisniewski (16-14). Managed by Johnny Rawlings, Grand Rapids dispatched South Bend in the first round and defeated Racine in the finals to clinch the championship title. Earp was the heroine of the final, even though she lost Game 1, 2–0, in 11 innings after retiring the first 21 Belles batters. She rebounded to win Game 4 on a 3–0 shutout, and then pitched a four-hit, 1–0 shutout to win decisive Game 7.
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