ST. PAUL – Lise deMoissac smiles, recalling when her daughter, Autumn Grace deMoissac, placed a picture of a catcher’s glove against their basement wall, practicing her pitching mechanics. Lise says, “I didn’t even know what she was doing, really… but she would go downstairs every afternoon and just throw a sock against the wall.”
In 2019, when Autumn Grace’s second year of U12 softball rolled by with the St. Paul Storm, her coaches asked each of the team members what positions they wanted to play. Autumn said, “Pitching and third base.”
“Autumn Grace, you’re not a pitcher. Please don’t pitch,” said her mom in response. Meanwhile, Autumn Grace's dad, Tyson, responded by saying, “Well, just let her try it out.”
Autumn Grace turned out to have great talent with pitching and the season proved to be an exciting year, according to Lise, saying, “Thankfully, my husband was much more encouraging than I am and just had a lot more faith in her.” The St. Paul Storm U12 won second place in the provincials and first place in the league that year.
In February of 2020, according to a previous article published by Lakeland This Week, Autumn Grace went on to play with the Medicine Hat Emeralds in California, before shifting her focus back to playing closer to home with the U14 St. Paul Storm provincial team.
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2022 U15 Nationals
About two years later, the 2022 U15 Girl's Canadian Fast Pitch Championship was held from Aug. 3 to Aug. 7, and Autumn Grace earned herself a spot on the field, playing with the AB2 Lloydminster Liners. The U15 nationals tournament included 21 teams hailing from provinces across the nation, and despite the Liners not bagging the gold, the experience was a “massive learning experience” for the St. Paul-area athlete.
“It was just really cool to see all the teams and how every province has similar things that we do, but then there are different things that we do,” says Autumn Grace. When the Liners played against QC Équipe Québec U15, it was “the coolest thing ever because they're cheering and speaking French… So it was like, ‘Whoa, this is a whole different game'," recalled Autumn Grace.
“It was really cool because we’ve also never played these teams before,” she says, explaining how playing against new teams and better teams widened her perspective and made her stronger as an individual and an athlete.
“I also realized things about myself that I didn’t know up until then.”
Inspiration
On Aug. 10, following the completion of the national tournament, and while speaking with Lakeland This Week, the mother and daughter laugh while recalling when Lise doubted her daughter's pitching abilities.
"I feel pretty good about it," Autumn Grace chimes in about proving her mom wrong, as the two share a moment of laughter. "What teenager doesn't love proving their parent wrong, right?" says Lise, her tone filled with glee.
According to Lise, Autumn always rises to the challenge and is a responsible teenager, being the first-born of the family. "She's the oldest of six… almost seven siblings, so she's always had a lot of responsibility on her, and she's always risen up to the occasion."
Autumn Grace tilts her head and looks at her mom. "Five," she corrects. Lise says, "Oh, sorry, she has five siblings."
"Yeah, whoa," Autumn Grace says. Lise grins and clarifies, "She has five siblings, and number six is on the way. We have seven kids."
As an athlete, Autumn Grace actively works on improving her skills, paving a path to stand even among the best U15 pitchers in the country, says her mother. While Autumn Grace recognizes her abilities are the result of hard work and experience, her sources of inspiration and strength come from somewhere else.
Autumn Grace says that among the biggest sources of her motivations is the support she receives from her father, Tyson, who always believed in her from the beginning. According to Lise, Tyson also repeatedly encouraged Autumn Grace to practice.
"He just always takes me to ball diamonds… to practice. He always just pushes me to be better and helped me train through it all," says Autumn Grace.
When faced with challenges and adversities, her deep faith in God also provides her strength. She says, "Every time I face a hard thing, I just offer it all up to God. Because honestly, I feel like it's not me doing it… it's Him and me… I don't have to put all the pressure on myself, and I can just lean on Him."
"That's why I take it so hard when something doesn't go well because that wasn't just for me, it was for someone else too," she says. "But that's also why I try to keep it together as long as I can."
Lise says her daughter continues to sharpen her skills, working to be among the best in the sport and to be the best person she can be.
Autumn Grace says she hopes to play for Team Canada, one day.
