Although the team is three games into their second half schedule, the first half concluded with the NorthPaws finishing 14-13. With last week’s three-game sweep of the Wenatchee AppleSox, the team has now surpassed last year’s win total. Head Coach Riley Jepson and assistants Trey Newman and Jack Slominski had a goal of changing the team’s vibe and becoming a winning ball club again.

“I think it’s huge to be winning games and in a lot of games, we want to put a good product out there for the community and encourage them to come out to more games,” said Jepson.

The team proved their point early on with an opening weekend sweep over the Port Anglels Lefties and continued to be consistent, including at Norbrock stadium, where they won four of their first five series at home.

Coming into the season, all eyes would be on the bats as the team featured several significant additions, but the bullpen has been one of the biggest keys to success so far, according to the coaches.

“At the beginning of the year, our starters struggled a bit, so the bullpen helped save us a few times, but the starters have been getting better every day, and the bullpen has still been just as good,” said Slominski.

The NorthPaws have taken the league by storm on the basepaths, having over 80 stolen bases and sitting second in the West Coast League. The team also has stolen base leader Elijah Clayton, who has 19 to this point. The coaches believe that this identity has been easy to adopt, given the team’s makeup.

“We preach to the guys every day to play your game, and we have a lot of team speed and athletes one through nine in our lineup, so we can’t get away from that, knowing that’s how we’re going to beat teams,” said Newman.

The West Coast League schedule isn’t an easy one to navigate, and the team hasn’t been immune to tough stretches at the plate, but Newman gives his group credit for staying tough.

“I give the guys a lot of credit, they show up every day, get their work in and take it seriously. They never had their heads down, they just kept battling, which is cool to see, and I think that mentality is infectious and runs through our whole team,” said Newman.

After a pair of disappointing seasons, the team has dramatically turned things around, including opening the second half with a sweep and sitting four games over .500. The NorthPaws last made the postseason in 2022, a year when Newman played on the team. The coaches are trying to revive that vibe in the community.

” We’ve played well so far, but I think we can play even better going forward. I think the guys are starting to realize that and believe it, and if those guys buy in, this is going to be a tough team to beat,” said Newman.

The NorthPaws will return from their days off Tuesday night when they visit the Wenatchee AppleSox as they look to extend their winning streak to a season-long four games.

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July 8, 2025

For immediate release

PORT ANGELES, WA – It went down to the final pitch, but the Victoria HarbourCats battled their way to a narrow 3-2 win over the Port Angeles Lefties Tuesday night.

Levi Joyce got things rolling early for the hosts, hitting a two-out RBI single to make it 1-0 Lefties in the first inning.

The story of the game was the starting pitchers with Hudson Lance (Coastal Carolina) on the bump for Victoria and Seth Wrightstone for Port Angeles. It was Lance’s fifth start of the season, and he pitched five innings, matching his season-high, giving up one run on four hits while striking out one.

BOX SCORE

Curtis McKay (Niagara) continued his hot road trip with an RBI single in the fourth inning to tie it up at one. The versatile defender was in right field tonight and now has seven hits in his last four games.

After that, Wrightstone shut the door, throwing eight innings of one-run ball, giving up just four hits and striking out seven HarbourCats.

Ben Hewitt (Ottawa) kept the game tied out of the bullpen, going three innings, giving up no runs on one hit while striking out three.

WCL STANDINGS

It was all square heading into the ninth inning, where Ian Hoffstetter replaced Wrightstone but could not replicate his dominance. After Logan Shepherd (Mercer U) led off the inning with his second hit of the game, Dillon Lopez (St. Mary’s) hit a two-run home run over the left field wall to give the Cats their first lead of the night, making it 3-1.

Jake Finkelstein (Georgia Gwinnett) came out for the save in the bottom of the ninth, but the Lefties did not go down without a fight. A walk and a single put the tying run on base, and after a Finkelstein error allowed a run to come home, it was 3-2 with nobody out. The next batter hit a grounder to JC Allen (UC San Diego) at first, who threw out the runner at the plate to keep hold of the Cats’ one-run lead. Finkelstein settled down from there, inducing a groundout for out number two, and striking out Tommy Markey for the final out.

This 3-2 win puts the HarbourCats’ second-half record at 7-1. They’ll turn to Logan Saloman (Nevada) tomorrow as they look to finish the road trip on a high. The big right-hander recorded the win last week against the Nanaimo NightOwls after pitching five scoreless innings.

WATCH TOMORROW’S GAME HERE

The HarbourCats are back home for an exciting weekend series against the Kelowna Falcons Friday, July 11 at 6:35 PM. Friday is Harvey’s Birthday, Saturday is a Fireworks night, and Sunday’s matinee is the always popular Bark in the Park game, where all dogs are welcome! Get tickets at harbourcats.com/tickets.

10 and 32-Game Flex Passes and Single Game Tickets are on sale for all home games and “Showcase” events through the HarbourCats’ new and one-and-only ticketing partner SHOWPASS at harbourcats.com/tickets.

Tickets and merchandise can also be purchased in person at the HarbourCats office at 101-1814 Vancouver Street or by calling 778-265-0327.

For more updates, be sure to follow @HarbourCats on all social channels (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram).

Source

July 7, 2025

For immediate release

PORT ANGELES, WA – The Victoria HarbourCats continued their high-scoring road trip Monday night with a 16-6 victory over the Port Angeles Lefties.

It was just a few days ago in Ridgefield when the Cats produced a nine-run third inning that propelled them to a huge 20-5 win. Tonight they went one better, scoring 10 runs in the first inning to take an insurmountable lead before the Lefties even had the chance to come to the plate.

BOX SCORE

The bases were loaded early for Logan Shepherd (Mercer U), who drove in the first run of the game with an RBI single, his first of six RBIs on the night. That was followed by a Cayden Munster (Fresno State) two-run double and a Curtis McKay (Niagara) two-run single to make it 5-0. Back-to-back bases loaded walks surrendered to Garrett Brooks (St. Mary’s) and JC Allen (UC San Diego) brought up Shepherd with the bases loaded once again. The slugger went one better this time, hitting a double that scored all the baserunners, giving the Cats a 10-0 advantage.

Tyler Patrick (Fresno State) made his fourth start of the season and completed four innings for the third time this campaign. The freshman struck out five batters while giving up two runs on seven hits.

WCL STANDINGS

A pair of two-run doubles in the fifth inning from Tanner Beltowski (Westmont) and Shepherd extended the lead to 14-2. Jacob Doyle (Nevada) got in on the action in the sixth inning with an RBI double of his own to make it 15-2. Beltowski recorded his third RBI of the game with a sacrifice fly later in the frame to give the Cats a 16-2 lead. The shortstop is now hitting .357 on the season, which ranks fifth in the WCL.

Garrett Villa (Angelo State) and Cade Rusch (Bellarmine) both gave up a pair of runs in two innings of work later in the game. Tristin Thomas (West Texas A&M) wrapped up the 16-6 win with a one-two-three ninth inning.

WATCH AWAY GAMES HERE

Beltowski, McKay, and Shepherd all had three hits in the game. Shepherd’s big night puts him in the top five in the league in RBIs with 29.

The series continues tomorrow at 6:35 PM as the Cats look to continue their red-hot start to the second half of the season.

The HarbourCats are back home for an exciting weekend series against the Kelowna Falcons Friday, July 11 at 6:35 PM. Friday is Harvey’s Birthday, Saturday is a Fireworks night, and Sunday’s matinee is the always popular Bark in the Park game, where all dogs are welcome! Get tickets at harbourcats.com/tickets.

10 and 32-Game Flex Passes and Single Game Tickets are on sale for all home games and “Showcase” events through the HarbourCats’ new and one-and-only ticketing partner SHOWPASS at harbourcats.com/tickets.

Tickets and merchandise can also be purchased in person at the HarbourCats office at 101-1814 Vancouver Street or by calling 778-265-0327.

For more updates, be sure to follow @HarbourCats on all social channels (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram).

Source