The West Coast League baseball season has been full of quirky surprises, not the least of which are the expansion Kamloops NorthPaws leading the North Division, and former Seattle Seahawks NFL receiver Golden Tate joining the Port Angeles Lefties.
The Victoria HarbourCats made their first-ever trip to Kamloops and saw the NorthPaws push to 8-5 in the standings by scoring a run in each of the bottom of the eighth and ninth innings to edge Victoria 5-4 on Tuesday night at Norbrock Stadium.
Felix Chenier Rondeau’s walk-off RBI single gave the surprising NorthPaws victory as the HarbourCats fell back to .500 at 6-6.
Victoria got off to a rocky start, trailing 3-0 in the top of the fourth inning as starter Loreto Siniscalchi was touched for four hits and three runs through three innings in his four-winning outing.
The HarbourCats battled back to take a 4-3 lead. That was thanks to a two-out triple by Joseph Redfield, the son of former MLB player Joe Redfield and headed from junior college to NCAA Div. 1 Sam Houston State, and follow-up homer by Colton Moore in the fourth inning and a two out, two-RBI triple by Grady Morgan in the seventh inning as the NCAA Chico State slugger continued producing with a .368 batting average.
The three-game set continues tonight and Thursday.
Meanwhile, former Seahawks Super Bowl-winning receiver Tate made his WCL debut in centre field for the Port Angeles Lefties against the Bend Elks with two hits, an RBI and a run scored in his first-four at-bats in the late-finishing game.
“As some might know, I was drafted twice in baseball. As a child, my first love was baseball, so I’m excited about the opportunity to compete against some of the best young players,” Tate, 33, said in a statement.
Tate was a dual NCAA Div. 1 football-baseball athlete for the Fighting Irish at Notre Dame before winning a Super Bowl with the Seahawks, making the Pro Bowl with the Detroit Lions and concluding his NFL career with the Eagles and Giants.
“We’re all excited to see Golden wearing a Lefties uniform,” WCL commissioner Rob Neyer said in a statement.
“And his teammates will certainly benefit from seeing how hard a world-class athlete works toward the same thing they’re all working toward — a professional baseball career.”
Tate is signed through the rest of the season by Port Angeles.
The Lefties have already come to Victoria but the HarbourCats will get to play Tate from July 29-31 across the strait in Port Angeles. The Nanaimo NightOwls are in Port Angeles from June 27-29 with Tate and the Lefties making the trip to Serauxmen Stadium for Nanaimo’ last regular-season home set from Aug. 5-7.
