By Pierre LaBossiere
Peninsula Daily News
Every week until the beginning of the Port Angeles Lefties season on June 1, the Peninsula Daily News will be printing profiles of several Lefties players in our Meet the Lefties feature. This week, we feature athletes, including four big catchers, from as far away as Harvard and Tennessee. Here are the profiles for Lefties Jake Portaro, Benny Kaleiwahea, Branden Williams, Cullen Ray, Dutton Elske and Trent Bryan.
The Lefties are a wooden bat collegiate league team that will play in the West Coast League against teams from all around Washington, British Columbia and Oregon. It will feature college players from all around the country.
Jake Portaro
Portaro is a a member of the Pac-12 from the University of Utah. A 6-1, 195-pound second and third baseman, he was first-team all-southern Nevada, first-term All-Sunset Region and all-state as a senior at Centennial High School in Las Vegas. He is also a star in the classroom as he is a member of the National Honor Society.
Portaro is a pre-Business major at Utah. You can follow him on Twitter @jport24 and on Instagram at jportswag24.
Dutton Elske
Dutton Elske is a player for the University of Portland, where he is a catcher for the Pilots. At 6-0 and 200 pounds, he is originally from Lake Oswego, Ore. and was the 2016 6A Oregon High School Baseball Player of the Year. He is also a three-time selection to the Oregon 6A/5A All-Star and All-three Rivers League first team.
Elske is also a happy Cubs fan. You can follow him on Twitter @duttonelske or on Instagram @duttonelske7.
Trent Bryan
Bryan comes to the Lefties all the way from Harvard, where he was an everyday starter in left field as a freshman for the Crimson. He is a native of Miami Beach, Fla., and at 6-2, 179 pounds, he is a switch hitter. Before attending Harvard, Bryan was a four-year letterman and team captain at shortstop for Miami Beach High School.
A 2015 All-District selection, he was also the team Most Valuable Player, second team all-county and an Under Armour preseason All-American in 2014 and 2015.
Bryan graduated high school cum laude with honors and was a Special Olympics volunteer.
Benny Kaleiwahea
Kaleiwahea joins the Lefties from Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville, Tenn. The 6-1, 205-pound catcher is a native of Lacey, so he is plenty familiar with the Pacific Northwest. He helped lead Timberline High School to the Class 3A regional with 26 RBIs and by throwing out 11 base stealers.
Kaleiwahea spent last summer with the Kitsap Bluejackets, where he had 18 hits, 17 runs, 10 RBIs, 20 walks and ended the season with a .314 on-base percentage. He also played at Lower Columbia College in Longview, where he helped the Red Devils win a division championship in 2016. You can follow him on Twitter @bennykaleiwahea and on Instagram @bk_bennyandthejets.
Branden Williams
Williams joins the Lefties from UC Riverside, where he plays for former Major League All-Star Troy Percival. He is a catcher and a former football player at 6-3, 215-pounds. He played in the West Coast League last year for the Walla Walla Sweets.
Williams is good with the bat, but an even stronger defensive player who can play multiple positions. Last year, Williams helped the Irvine College Lasers advance to the community college super-regionals. Williams is majoring in media and cultural studies and hopes to one day open a restaurant.
Cullen Ray
Ray is a catcher at Arkansas State and was a four-year letterman for Houston High School in Germantown, Tenn., where he was named all-metro for four seasons and was ranked as the third-best high school catcher in Tennessee by the Prep Baseball Report. He was also selected as a Super Sophomore by the Tennessee Baseball Coaches Association in 2014 and was named to the West Tennessee All-Star team and as a Perfect Game Preseason All-American.
At 6-2, 205-pounds, he throws right. You can follow him on Twitter @cullenray_13.
