For Eve, the championship she shared with the others on her team was the pinnacle of her sporting career - and if all goes well, she hopes to duplicate it again in four years in Turin, Italy.
The idea of entering the Worlds belonged to Elaine Devlin, once a highly touted Canadian fastball pitcher. Devlin now lives in the Peterborough area but maintains contact with ballplayers in this area that she coached years ago. She is a veteran of three Worlds Championships.
Elaine asked Eve a couple of years ago if she would be interested in being part of a team with the two of them sharing the pitching. Last year Eve agreed. With two strong pitchers, one of them a windmiller, they had the advantage over many of their rivals.
The women took the name of the local fastball/broomball team that Eve plays for in Northumberland County. Many of the players in that group have been playing fastball and broomball with Eve for 25 years. Six of them continue to play on the now Grafton-based Free Spirits - but they weren't eligible for this round at the Worlds - they were too young.
Eve has been at the game for most of her life. As a Bantam, she and her team won All Ontario. She had a stint with the Cobourg Angels, and has played at the Grafton Fastball Tournament for all of the 30 years it has been operating.
Eve hasn't always been a pitcher. Her dad, Allan Fenton, put her in centre field. He never wanted her to pitch, but her brother, Alan did. He got her working on a windmill delivery that she still uses. He, too, was a pitcher.
Eve wasn't his only "project". Alan was an excellent hockey player and started a hockey program in Wooster, Ohio where he lived as an adult.
Joining Eve from this area for the Worlds were her catcher, Cheryl Usher of Baltimore, first baseman, Sue Throop, from Hamilton Township. Third baseman Judith Clapperton, and centrefielder Jen Ashley were also from Baltimore.
The local women took an umpire too. Jen Keller umpired 14 games in eight days and won praise for her work.
With players in Peterborough and Northumberland it was difficult to get together for practices. The women played for their local teams and there are few tournaments where they can play.
Nonetheless they did practise all last summer and played in a pair of tournaments. One was a lob ball tourney, the other was the Grafton tourney where they all played for their home teams.
The mound in the Hamilton Township Ladies League where Eve plays is 40 feet from home base. The mound is 43 feet away in Australia. So Eve signed up to play in a Belleville league where they use the longer distance.
While is sounds like a simple adjustment, it wasn't. One guesses that she won't try that again.
After a month of twice-a-week practices and a double-header in Brantford in September, the Canadian Free Spirits set off for Australia on October 3.
After a series of flights that took nearly 24 hours, the exhausted women arrived at Sydney and stood in line for 3 1/2 hours to register.
It didn't matter. They had already experienced the warm Aussie hospitality. Eve says the Australians treated the Canadians like gold. They honked and waved and helped the ball players with anything they needed.
The opening ceremony was unlike anything Eve had ever experienced.
Fans packed the Olympic Stadium, cheering as the 28,000 athletes filed through the tunnel and onto the field. It was an unforgetable moment for the Canadians as they sang their national anthem surrounded by a silent crowd of athletes.
Out on the field the Canadians were cheered by every Canadian they passed in the crowd. It was a truly amazing experience.
With the ceremonies over, the games began, along with the fellowship with their competitors. It was clear from the beginning the two Canadian teams were forces. The Free Spirits lost only two of the 12 games they played, and both were to the Edmonton Silverlines.
Everyone else fell by the wayside - the Japanese, the Australians, the New Zealanders. The Free Spirits mercied both Australian opponents, running up a seven-run lead after five innings of the their seven-inning games.
The Free Spirits lost two to the Silverlines, but they won the one that mattered.
Elaine pitched through the 11-8 loss in the prelims. Eve lost 5-3 in the semis. But a win in their second semi-final game against Australia gave them a second crack at the Edmonton women. With Elaine back on the hill, the Free Spirits upset their western rivals 7-4.
They had achieved something they never thought possible - the gold medal place on the podium with the Canadian flag furled behind them.
At 53 and the oldest member of the team it might be the perfect time to retire. But that's not in Eve's plans right now. She recognises what all athletes learn sooner or later - their time is finite. And if she had to quit now, there is no better way to go. This can't be topped.
Over a month after their 52-hour trip home the self-effacing elite athlete still seems to be taking it all in, wondering that the team that Elaine put together could achive so much. It was a dream come true.
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