Monday night at Joe Martin field in Bellingham, the Bells proved that perhaps the most important key to building a winning franchise is team chemistry. All season long the Bells have proven they have what it takes to win in this league - dominating opponents with clutch hitting, stellar defence, and intimidating pitching. They did so again Monday beating the Corvalis Knights 3-2 in the final game of the three-game set to claim their first WCL title.
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| Bellingham's Walker Olis hoists the WCL Champion's Trophy |
It wasn't an easy victory at all... The Bells got lucky in the third inning, scoring a run on a throwing error by Knights right fielder Tim Rausch, who bounced a ball past third base allowing the run to score and a runner to advance to second. A walk, a balk, a wild pitch to score another run, and a bloop single off Corvalis starter Chris Haddeland gave the Bells their three runs. They would get only two more hits the rest of the game. Corvalis clawed back two runs in the 4th, but the Bellingham relief core shut the door after that and the Knights never threatened again. Over the last 5 innings, Bellingham pitchers gave up only 3 hits, only allowing one runner to second base. Bells reliever Moises Ceja was credited with the win, retiring all 4 batters he faced after replacing a shaky Gabe Cramer who got the final game start for the Bells.
Demolition of the field at Joe Martin can begin in earnest this morning. After a week-long delay while the Bells went through the playoffs, the turf field will be pulled up starting this morning. It's a 90 day task to replace the field with a new 1.7 Million dollar
FieldTurf surface, and it should still be able to complete by the November 30th deadline.
And that's a wrap on the 2014 WCL season! Congratulations to the Bellingham Bells.
Moises Ceja... best baseball name in the WCL. But seriously, nice job, Bellingham!
ReplyDeleteNice to see Bellingham win their first WCL Championship; they have been waiting since 2005. The Bells did it with great pitching. They led the league with a team ERA of 2.68 and a WHIP of 1.16. On the other hand the Bells team batting average was not very good, it was the third lowest in the league at .260. In comparison the HarbourCats ranked 8th in the league in team pitching with a 4.50 ERA and a WHIP of 1.54. It has always been the case; great pitching will beat great hitting every day.
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