Box Score | Bellingham Bells Roster | WCL Playoff Schedule

The Bellingham Bells are the 2025 West Coast League Champions after a 2-1 win over the Portland Pickles at Walker Stadium in Portland, Ore. Nate Kirkpatrick’s fourth-inning home run helped Bellingham’s offense behind five no-hit innings by Trevor Moore in the start.

With the win, the Bells claimed their first WCL Championship since 2014 and won their second title in the team’s 20-year WCL history. The win not only gave Bellingham a championship for the first time in 11 years, but also ended Portland’s chase for back-to-back titles.

Moore’s start was stellar. He struck out eighth Pickles in five innings and no-hit the WCL’s best statistical hitting team. The offense backed him up with Kirkpatricks solo shot in the fourth to take the early 1-0 lead.

The bullpen was just as sharp as tonight’s starter. Caleb Cassie locked down a scoreless sixth and Mack Edwards tossed a one-hit seventh with the help of one strikeout.

In the top of the eighth, Aiden Aguayo doubled with one out and moved to third on a wild pitch. After Andrew Lamb was hit by a pitch, Noah Cassie hit into a fielder’s choice where his hustle down the first base line beat the double play throw to allow the run to score and double the Bells lead.

Carter Herrera made a rare relief appearance and pitched a shutdown 1-2-3 bottom of the eighth to set up the final inning. With Portland down to its last three outs, Colt Peterson entered hunting his third save of the playoffs.

After hitting the first batter on his first pitch, the pressure was on with the tying run at the plate in the form of the WCL’s top hitter and likely league MVP Josh Schleichardt. Peterson weathered the storm of the single-season home run record holder and forced a weak infield pop up.

Needing two outs, Peterson allowed a single that brought the go-ahead run to the plate. Peterson forced a pop fly that was caught in foul territory by Kirkpatrick and Bellingham was one out away from climbing the mountain.

The Pickles fought hard and Conner Stewart singled to score Portland’s first run of the game. Now with the tying and go-ahead runs on first and second, Peterson struck out Grafton Stroup swinging in a 3-2 count to finish the storybook ending tonight.

Cassie’s RBI fielder’s choice proved to be the difference in tonight’s game, but the pitching staff allowing three hits to the WCL’s best hitting team was the impressive feat throughout the night.

The win finished a spectacular 2025 season that saw the Bells win the North Division first half of the season with an 18-9 start to the year. Bellingham finished second overall in the North Division with a 33-21 record in the regular season and fought through the post season that began going the distance versus Wenatchee and walking off a Game 3 win on Rominic Quiban’s base hit and Blake Balsz’s swim move slide.

The Bells traveled near 1,700 miles during the playoffs in less than a week mainly due to their flight up North for the winner-take-all North Divisional Championship that the Bells won in a near five-hour game in Edmonton to advance to the WCL Championship for the first time since 2022.

This Bellingham Bells team will forever be engraved in West Coast League history as champions.

This game recap is presented by Everstrong Physical Therapy and Performance.