Autumn Mills never had a baseball game cancelled before because of a hurricane.
For the 17-year-old London pitcher, the youngest member of Team Canada's women's team, an exhibition series in Cuba became an unforgettable experience for the wrong reasons -- like the ball tournament from hell.
"We thought we were going to die," said Mills, a South Secondary school student who was cloistered with her teammates in an emergency concrete building to shelter them from Hurricane Dennis.
The hurricane raked Havana last month with 130 to 190 km/h winds.
"Coconuts were falling, a lamp post fell over, trees were ripped out of the ground, windows were smashed. It was raining in our rooms. It was scary," Mills said.
"We were flooded. Things were flying everywhere. The water was at least a foot and half deep in our rooms. We were 10 kilometres from the eye of the storm."
A roommate was hit on the head when a curtain rod fell and another was narrowly missed by a flying coconut.
"There was no water to brush our teeth or shower and it was brown when we did. All the electricity was out," Mills said.
The brunt of the hurricane lasted from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. July 8-9.
Dennis killed 16 people in Cuba, damaged or destroyed 15,000 homes and caused an estimated $1.4 billion US in damages.
Team Canada had been moved from an ocean-side cluster of huts further inland to the concrete building as the storm approached.
It was a five-game trip organized by Baseball Canada to promote women's baseball around the world. The two-year-old Cuban team is expected to enter international play next year and it wanted to test its mettle against Canada.
The Canadians won all four of the games that were played by resounding scores. Dennis cancelled a fifth.
Although Cuba is known as a world baseball power, until now it hasn't been considered a woman's sport on the island country.
"We weren't thinking about baseball," Mills said, "but it brought the team very close together. We had nothing to do but bond together because we were scared for our lives."
Even before the hurricane hit, Mills was having a difficult time in Havana.
"We didn't really focus on baseball," she said.
"I barely ate anything. The food was not good. Everybody was throwing up. Some suffered from heat stroke. The air was not clean and the poverty is insane. Everybody wanted something from you."
The ramshackle housing revolted her and she lost seven pounds because she couldn't eat.
After playing boys' baseball since almost a tot, Mills moved this year to women's ball with a Mississauga team.
From there she made Team Ontario, which played a tournament in Toronto on the Canada Day weekend. She was then selected to pitch for Team Canada (age 17 and up) for the the Cuban trip.
Mills is in line for a job with Team Canada next year when a World Series is held in Taiwan.
"Next time I'll take a suitcase full of food," she said.
However, selection to the team isn't a sure thing. She's been told to work on her mechanics this winter while she stays in shape by playing girls' hockey in the Bluewater system.
Then there will be further evaluations before the national team is picked.
Her aspirations are to go to university and perhaps play on the men's varsity baseball team.
She wants to become a teacher.
