John Vaara continues to pitch well for the Lefties, compiling a 2.84 ERA this season.(Photo courtesy of Maevis Photography)
Lefties Travels Plague Them
Written by: Ryan Wike
The Lefties day started off early Saturday morning with a 6 a.m. trip to the airport in Vancouver. Much to the team’s dismay, the first flight was canceled. The team’s coaches then had to walk the wire, sending groups of guys on different flights with different destinations and layovers, all in hopes of making the series opener in Edmonton. After many bumps in the road, the last of the team got on the ground about an hour before game time and the race was on.
Port Angeles couldn’t overcome its travel woes though, suffering its first shutout of the season against Edmonton, with the Lefties falling 7-0.
One person the crazy travel didn’t seem to affect was John Vaara (Port Angeles High School, Edmonds College) who, with a short warm-up, started the game on the mound and tossed five innings with only 2 earned runs, keeping the Lefties offense within striking distance.
Unfortunately, that is where the dominance went down as the Port Angeles pitching staff was obviously affected by the trip and looks to get back on track in game two. The Lefties defense continued to struggle as they committed two errors; four of the seven runs Edmonton scored went unearned.
The bats stayed pretty silent against the powerful opposing pitching of the Riverhawks, only racking up three hits and two walks. But the Lefties showed in the last series the bats are doing their job and the pitching staff can be dominant, Port Angeles just needs to put it all together.
Ethan Kodoma (UC Berkeley) was one of the highlights on offense, as he tallied a hit. The outfielder has hits in his last eight WCL contests, with four multi-hit games in that span. Kodoma has raised his average by over 130 points across the last two weeks as he’s starting to heat up.
The team looks to get some more rest and create a more competitive game two.
