PORT ANGELES — Say this about the Lefties. They ended their season with an incredible flourish.
The Lefties closed their year with their wackiest game of the season, coming back from behind three separate times in a 5-hour-long, 11-inning ridiculously wild 17-16 affair against their rival from across the Strait, the Victoria HarbourCats.
No wonder the game took five hours. More than 2,300 fans were treated to a total of 38 hits, 24 walks, six hit batsmen (for 68 total baserunners), 13 pitchers and an astounding 454 pitches thrown in the game. All that was missing was a partridge in a pear tree.
Coach Zach Miller said the Lefties were depleted somewhat as a number of their players from the beginning of the season were done due to injuries or pitch limits. The Lefties also had to overcome a pair of Harrison Bragg home runs the HarbourCats.
“We’re down a bit, but those guys played their hearts out and ended the season on a high note,” Miller said. “It was a back and forth gattle. It was nice to see.”
“That was a game that will definitely stick with me for a long time,” Miller said. Miller gave credit to big crowds the final two nights for helping to spark the players (the Lefties lost a close one to Victoria on Saturday night).
And the HarbourCats weren’t exactly throwing anyone out there to pitch because Victoria really needed this game to win the North Division and automatically qualify for postseason. By winning, the Lefties essentially knocked Wenatchee out of the postseason.
A makeup game had to be played Monday between Corvallis and Wenatchee to help decide if Victoria or Bellingham, both at 15-12 in the North Division in the second half, would go to the postseason. This is because Wenatchee could also end up at 15-12, creating a three-way tie and a tiebreaking scenario that would send Bellingham to the playoffs. If Wenatchee loses, Victoria goes to the posteason.
The game had repeated swings of momentum with four lead changes. The Lefties got ahead 5-0 early, but the HarbourCats scored 11 runs in the fifth and sixth innings to take an 11-7 lead. The Lefties clawed back with a five-run bottom of the sixth to make the score 12-11.
The HarbourCats retook the lead with two runs in the seventh and were still holding a 15-13 lead in the bottom of the ninth. At this point, it had already been an epic game, but the Lefties didn’t want their season to end just yet, scoring two runs in the ninth to knot the game up at 15-15, sending it to extra innings.
After a scoreless 10th, Victoria took a 16-15 lead in the top of the 11th, but the Lefties responded with two runs in the bottom of the 11th to pull the game out, with Aki Buckson striking the big blow with a walk-off game-winning hit.
The Lefties finished with 22 hits (including six doubles and a triple) and 12 walks. The HarbourCats had 16 hits and 12 walks.
The win was the first all year against Victoria. The Lefties finished their inaugural season 19-34 (10-17 in the first half of the split season and 9-17 in the second half).
Jordan Ackerman, a relative newcomer to the Lefties, was the player of the game, going 5 for 6 with a double, two walks and three runs scored. Ackerman ended the season 16 for 37, good for a .432 batting average and an on-base percentage of .533.
Bryan Hill was 3 for 6 with a triple, two runs, two RBIs and two walks. Nick Bellefronto was 3 for 6 with two runs and a walk, while Trace Eldredge was 3 for 7 with two runs scored.
Buckson, another late-season star for the Lefties, was 2 for 6 with a double, two runs and two walks, while Michael Ciancio was 2 for 6 with a double, two runs and a walk and Benny Kaleiwahea was 2 for 4 with a double, a run, an RBI and a walk. Mitchell Hagan was 1 for 3 with a double, two runs scored and three walks.
Isaac Olsen got the win on the mound for the Lefties. He went the final 3 2/3 innings, giving up two earned runs on four hits.
The Lefties finished the season wiht a total attendance of 36,883 in 27 home days, a solid fourth-best out of the 11 teams in the West Coast League, despite Port Angeles being among the smallest communities in the league.
The Lefties averaged 1,366 attendance, above the league average of 1,200. The HarbourCats led the league in attendance at 1,899 per game.
Miller said it’s still far too early to tell which Lefties players will be back next year, but he is hoping that the players enjoyed the experience of Port Angeles and their hosts that some may return.
Port Angeles 17, Victoria 16
Cats 0 0 0 5 6 2 1 0 1 0 1 — 16 16 1
Lefties 4 1 0 2 5 0 1 0 2 0 2 — 17 22 2
WP: Olson LP: McKillican
Pitching
Cats — Kent 2.2IP, 7H, 5R, 2ER, 2BB; Musselwhite 1IP, H, ER; Sarana 0.1IP 2H, ER; Thorp 0.1IP 2H, 4ER, 2BB; Wade 0.0IP, 0H, ER, 2BB; Prokops 2.1IP, 5H, ER, 2BB, 4K; Kohn 2IP, 3H, 2ER, BB, 3K; McKillican 1.2IP, 2H, 2ER, 3BB.
Lefties — Kubo 3.2IP 4H, 5R, 5ER, 4BB, 6K; Battaglia 0.1IP 0H, 2ER, 4BB; Johnson 0.1IP, 2H, 3ER, BB; Smith 3IP, 6H, 3ER, 3BB, 3K; Olson 3.2IP, 4H, 2ER, 0BB.
Hitting
Cats — Bragg 3-5, 2HR, 3R, 2RBI, SB, HBP; Vansau 3-6, 2B, R, RBI, 2BB, SB; McGuire 3-6, 2 2B, 3R, BB; Johnson 3-7, 2B, 3R, RBI; Shaps 1-6, 2B, R, RBI, BB; Huang 1-5, 2B, R, 2BB; Shipley 1-4, 2R, 2BB, SB, 2HBP.
Lefties — Ackerman 5-6, 2B, 3R, RBI, 2BB; Bellafronto 3-6, 2R, BB; Hill 3-6, 3B, 2R, 2RBI, 2BB; Eldredge 3-7, 2B, 2R; Buckson 2-6, 2B, 2R, 2BB; Ciancio 2-6, 2B, 2R, BB; Kaleiwahea 2-4, 2B, R, RBI, SB, HPB, SF; Hagan 1-3, 2B, 2R, 3BB, HBP; Williams 1-5, R, RBI, HBP, SF.
Aki Buckson smacks the game-winning hit in the bottom of the 11th to hand the Lefties a hard-fought 17-16 win Sunday. (Jay Cline/for Peninsula Daily News)
