Above Image: Grady Morgan slides in to score the first run of the game On June 7th (Photo: Christian J Stewart)

Story by Thomas Wilke

June 7, 2022

Victoria, BC – Colton Moore’s sacrifice fly RBI capped off a four-run bottom of the eighth inning and fueled a dramatic 7-6 come from behind win for the Victoria HarbourCats over the Nanaimo NightOwls on Tuesday evening in the inaugural West Coast League’s “Battle of Vancouver Island”. 

Slow starting games have become a bit of a theme in HarbourCats nation early in the season, as the home squad tallied just three hits through the first six innings on Tuesday. The seventh and eighth innings were different stories however, as the team exploded for some much needed offensive output to take the lead and inevitably hold on for their third win of the season.

Joseph Redfield gets caught trying to swipe second in the bottom of the first inning (Photo: Christian J Stewart)

The crowd of over 1, 100 was held out of the game for the first three quarters of the contest but the latter innings were far from that, as the spectators began to rally in a rowdy and memorable fashion as Victoria inched closer and closer to their Nanaimo rivals by taking advantage of some wild pitches and passed balls. 

Clark Henry’s second hit of the game was the blow that really took the wind out of the NightOwl sails. Henry came to the plate with two runners on and his team trailing 6-4 then proceeded to slash the ball to right field in order to score Jake Skipworth (who had tallied an RBI double earlier that inning) from second to cut the lead to one and move all momentum to the HarbourCats side. They would add two more runs to take a 7-6 lead before sending Flynn Ridley to the mound for the ninth.  He did a nice job of closing the door after allowing a lead off walk and recording his first WCL save with two resounding strikeouts.

Victoria native Nick Lee makes another strong start going four innings of four hit two earned run ball (Photo: Christian J Stewart)

Big Performances:

HarbourCats:

• Clark Henry was fantastic for the HarbourCats this evening batting out of the Designated Hitter spot and going 2-4 with an RBI and two runs scored. Clarks’ family had also traveled all the way from Texas to watch him perform and he didn’t fail to meet any expectations with his game tonight

NightOwls:

• Grant MacArthur was the big bat in the Nanaimo lineup this evening after going 2-2 with a double and three runs batted in. Grant also walked three times and looked very dangerous at the dish.

Nanaimo’s Tim Holyk singles to left field in the top of the third (Photo: Christian J Stewart)

What’s Next?

• The NightOwls will seek to extract some revenge tomorrow evening at 6:35 pm at Wilson’s Group Stadium at RAP, before returning to finish the series on Thursday evening at the same time, where they will sport their “Nanaimo Bars” uniforms. Get your tickets at harbourcats.com/tickets for those upcoming games to be there in person to see this bitter rivalry unfold.