By Christian J. Stewart

August 10, 2022, Victoria, BC – What began on the last Tuesday in May, ended on the second Wednesday in August, as the Victoria HarbourCats 2022 West Coast League season came to an end Wednesday night following a 4-2 loss to the Bellingham Bells at Joe Martin Field in Bellingham.

FULL BOX SCORE

The win gave the Bells a 2-0 win in the best of three Divisional series, putting the them into the North Division Final against the Wenatcheee AppleSox who also clinched Wednesday, sweeping the expansion Kamloops NorthPaws.

The HarbourCats did not go down without a fight and took a 2-1 led into the bottom of the eighth inning, only to watch the Bells score three runs in that frame to vault into the lead.

Flynn Ridley was stellar once again in the start for Victoria, going five innings and giving up just one run on eight scattered hits, while striking out five.  His counterpart, Trevin Hope was equally as effective for the Bells and had a very similar line, going six innings and giving up just one run on six hits, while striking out seven.

Offensively, it was the Bells Malcolm Moore who continued to be a pain in the side of the HarbourCats. Moore, who had three hits and three RBI in the Bells 8-2 win in Victoria Tuesday, topped that on Wednesday with a five-hit performance, including an RBI single in the fateful eighth inning, that also resulted in a second Bells run scoring on an error.

For the HarbourCats, fan-favourite Jesse Brown and catcher Russell Young had a pair of hits each, with Josh Walker (single) and Nick Lee (sacrifice fly) accounting for an RBI each.

Bellingham reliever Lukas Frers was credited with the win in relief, while Victoria’s Ben Smedshammer was tagged with the loss.

While ending with a loss, Wednesday’s game caps off what can only be considered a successful HarbourCats season, especially after spending an other-worldly two seasons away from the diamond due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  The season was full of many great moments at the park and many new rivalries with teams like Nanaimo and Kamloops have been formed.

Close to 70,000 people overall came back to Wilson’s Group Stadium at Royal Athletic Park to enjoy the return of HarbourCats baseball and staff, coaches and players simply can’t wait to see even more than that return in 2023.

Speaking of 2023, Season Ticket renewals and sales are now on!  Lock in your seats for the 2023 season now before single game tickets go on sale in the fall once we know our 2023 schedule.  Click HERE for details on pricing, or call the office at 778-265-0327 for more information.