VICTORIA 13
WALLA WALLA 2
What more could you want on an idyllic mid-summer evening at the ball yard on Caledonia? The home team won emphatically, with a 13-2 Victoria HarbourCats WCL victory over the Walla Walla Sweets. The 18-hit barrage triggered free chicken burgers for everybody in the park as part of a promotion when Victoria scores 12 or more runs.
And there was even a marriage proposal, with the answer being a resounding yes. In a night that had just about everything, Daniel Sanchez proposed on the field between the sixth and seventh innings to Kortney Hannah, the sister of HarbourCats pitcher Blake Hannah from UC-Davis.
“I’m shaking,” said Kortney Hannah, after receiving a rousing ovation from the crowd of 1,676 at Royal Athletic Park.
“I had no hesitation in saying yes. I will never forget this night.”
No kidding.
“And we won the game. That was great,” added Kortney.
Blake Hannah and HarbourCats head coach Graig Merritt both came out of the dugout and hugged Kortney and Sanchez.
“I had butterflies but they went away as soon as I got on the field,” said Sanchez.
“It was amazing.”
Sanchez and the Hannahs are from California and Sanchez had been planning this since May.
That was the game of love. In the game of baseball, UC-Davis also played a big part as it was a five-RBI night to remember for Ryan Anderson while UC-Davis teammate Brad Pluschkell added a three-run homer as Victoria went to 33-11 and Walla Walla fell to 23-21 after dropping a second consecutive game to the HarbourCats.
“We have a scary lineup, right from our starters to our bullpen, to our defence,” said Pluschkell.
Not to mention offence.
“We’re hitting the ball well, right up and down the lineup,” said Anderson.
“And defensively, we’re making plays.”
An Anderson RBI sacrifice fly was all the HarbourCats could squeeze out of a one-out bases-loaded situation in the first inning An RBI double by Hayden Duer and RBI single by Coby Kauhaahaa gave Walla Walla a 2-1 lead in the top of the second inning.
As fate would have it, Anderson faced another one-out bases-loaded trip to the plate in the third inning. He walked to tie it 2-2. Dakota Dean and Tommy Jew RBIs made it 4-2 for Victoria before a three-run homer to left by Pluschkell blew the game open at 7-2. Anderson brought home another two runs in the fourth inning when his fly ball to right was dropped by the fielder but scored a hit. Anderson had another RBI with a single in the sixth inning.
Victoria starter Cam Schneider went six complete with three hits and two runs allowed with six strikeouts. Six-foot-four Walla Walla starter Easton Lucas from Pepperdine, the winner against Victoria in the first game of the season, had a rockier time of it Wednesday as the HarbourCats rocked him for six hits and seven runs in just three innings.
The HarbourCats and Sweets, named after the famous onion grown in southeastern Washington state, close out their set with a matinée today at Royal Athletic Park.
Victoria then has a three-game set beginning Friday night in Bellingham against the Bells.
It is part of the 18 games in 19 days that will close out the regular season for the HarbourCats.
