FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 19, 2025
Bellingham, WA – The Bellingham Bells pushed a run across in the bottom of the ninth inning to eke out a 2-1 win over the Victoria HarbourCats in West Coast League action Saturday night at Joe Martin field in Bellingham.
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The game was a tense pitching duel throughout, with ‘Cats starter Tommy Bridges and Bells starter Cameron Young keeping things tight through four innings.
Young in particular retired 12 batters in a row after allowing a first-inning single to Jack Johnson. The Bells gave him a lead in the fourth, getting a run off Bridges on a sacrifice fly to hold a 1-0 lead.
Victoria then had a chance to answer in the fifth, loading the bases with one out, but Bells reliever Will Franklin came in and put out the fire to keep the Bells in the lead.
Victoria finally clawed their way on to the scoreboard in the top of the eighth thanks to an RBI-single from Johnson, his second hit of the game, scoring Connor Ross who earlier walked.
In the ninth, Victoria had another stellar chance to take the lead, loading the bases with nobody out, but a big double-play and strikeout ended the threat and sent the game to the bottom of the inning at 1-1.
In the bottom of the frame, Andrew Lamb lead off with an infield single and then advanced to second on a questionable balk call against HarbourCats reliever Garret Villa. Villa then retired the next two batters, but then a throwing error by shortstop Tanner Beltowski allowed the winning run to scamper home and give the Bells the 2-1 win.
The Bells win spoiled solid pitching performances from Bridges, as well as relievers Ryne Palmer and Garrett Brooks, who combined, allowed just two Bells hits in their eight innings of work.
The HarbourCats will now need to quickly regroup as the rubber match in the series goes Sunday afternoon in a 1:30 pm start. Logan Rumberg is the scheduled starter for Victoria.
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They then return to Wilson’s Group Stadium on Tuesday for the first of a two-game set with the Dub Sea Fish Sticks, and then a return engagement with the Victoria Mavericks on Thursday. The Wenatchee AppleSox then come into town for a three game set starting Friday.
Tickets for all those games are selling fast and are available in advance at http://harbourcats.com/tickets or at the harbourCats office at 101-1814 Vancouver Street.
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