The theme of this series victory has been capitalizing on mistakes. Something the Bells have been doing all year is making the most of their opportunities, and in game 3, it was just enough to give them the victory.
Daryl Ruiz got the scoring started in the first inning after an RBI single brought in Dean West to give the Bells an early 1-0 lead. In the 3rd inning, it was Ruiz again bringing West home on an RBI single to give the Bells some extra breathing room early and make it a 2-0 game.
Meanwhile, on the mound for the Bells, Hunter Long put on a clinic. He collected five Ks and only allowed one hit across 4 innings to begin the game. Long would end up with a no decision on the day despite a great outing.
Sheldon Egger took over in a long relief role in the 5th inning and got off to a rough start, allowing 2 runs on 3 hits to even the game at 2-2. He then settled down and retired nine of the next 10 batters he faced without allowing a hit.
Poor defense from the AppleSox led to the Bells getting the lead back in the 6th inning. After an error allowed Brady Reynolds to reach 1st base, he later scored on back-to-back wild pitches. Later in that same inning, with 2 outs, Daryl Ruiz came through once again, this time reaching on an error by the 1st baseman and scoring Max Hartman to make the score 4-2.
In the 8th inning, the Bells would take advantage of another lapse in Wenatchee’s defense when Cole Yoshida was able to reach 1st on a 2-out, dropped 3rd strike that should have ended the inning. The AppleSox couldn’t have made that mistake at a worse time with Andrew Valdez at the plate. After Yoshida placed himself in scoring position with a stolen base, Valdez drove him in on the following pitch on a single to center field. Making the score 5-2 Bells.
The following inning, in the top of the 9th, Brady Reynolds gave the Bells what would become a very crucial insurance run on a single that scored Nate Kirkpatrick. Securing a 6-2 lead for the Bells before handing the game over to Kadden Drew to close them out.
Drew was able to get the first out of the inning but ended up in a bases-loaded situation with the tying run at the plate. With the game now in the balance, he was able to produce the ground ball he wanted, but the defense was unable to get the game-ending double play. Resulting in a run scoring and a 1st and 3rd situation in a 6-3 game. Now having 2 outs in the inning, Drew once again forced the ground ball he wanted, but this time it resulted in an error by the 3rd baseman, allowing a run to score and bringing the game-winning run to the plate with runners on 1st and 2nd base for the AppleSox. Kadden Drew began to lose control at this point, allowing both runners to advance on a wild pitch. On the following pitch, Drew lost control once again, which allowed a run to score but resulted in Colton Bower throwing out the runner going for 3rd base to secure the 6-5 win.
The Bells (28-16) were able to hold on with a score of 6-5 to give them the series win over the 2nd half leading Wenatchee AppleSox (32-13). The Bells return home for their final home stretch of the season on Friday, July 28 against the Port Angeles Lefties.