Eric Valdivia (Chaffey College) helped create some magic for the Lefties for the second straight game, hitting a walk-off single to secure the series win. (Photo courtesy of Maevis Photography)
Ninth-inning magic: Lefties walk it off for second straight game
Written by: Thomas Johnson
The Lefties cannot be stopped in the ninth inning.
For the second straight game, Port Angeles staged a late-game comeback as Eric Valdivia (Chaffey College) provided the magic this time, hitting a walk-off single to win it for the Lefties 6-5.
“I just knew, being on deck, I [knew] this was my time,” Valdivia said postgame. “I was struggling a little bit throughout the game, but I knew I was gonna get more shot and I just took advantage of it.”
Port Angeles entered the inning down by five runs, but — the day after coming back from a two-run, ninth-inning deficit — the Lefties staged their largest comeback of the year to take the series from the Kamloops NorthPaws.
Valdivia just recently joined the team, appearing in only his third game as a member of the Lefties. The Chaffey College product has notched multiple hits in every single game, no one more important than the one he hit to end the game.
“Eric just loves the game of baseball, he wants to be here.,” head coach Donald Brais said after Saturday night’s win. “He’s going to be the hardest worker on the field and he wants to be in tough situations. He wants to be that guy.”
Joshua Verkuilen (Cal State San Bernardino) started the game and gave Port Angeles the start it needed, tossing six innings for his second quality start of the year. Verkuilen — who just finished his sophomore season at Chaffey before announcing his commitment to Cal State San Bernardino — just recently joined the starting rotation and already has the two quality starts in three chances.
Prior to the ninth inning, the Lefties had only compiled three hits, but more than doubled that number in the final frame as Roberto Garza-Nunez (Embry-Riddle University) got it started with his second home run of the WCL season, the team’s first run of the game.
The next three hitters reached to load the bases up for Jason Leon (Cal State Bakersfield), who hit his second double of the day to drive home two runners and put the tying run in scoring position. Leon has 18 RBI on the season, but couldn’t surpass Garza-Nunez — who has 19 RBI after his homer — who is second on the team in that stat.
Yahir Ramirez (Texas A&M Corpus Christi) — who hit the walk-off single Saturday night — had another late-game RBI, driving in a run to pull the Lefties within one. Ramirez has knocks in five of his last six games, with three multi-hit games in that span.
The Lefties have had three walk-offs in league play and Ramirez has been involved in all three of them, scoring two of the game-winning runs and driving home the winner Saturday night.
Ramirez, who just finished his sophomore season at Chaffey, showed his clutch gene for the second straight game.
“It’s just kinda like a chemical bond, just me and [Ramirez] are brothers,” Valdivia said. “It’s exciting to be out here with him.
After a pair of walks, Valdivia came up to the plate with the bases loaded and delivered the second game-winning hit from a Chaffey hitter in as many days.
“All I know is that since I’ve gotten here, it was just easy getting along with everyone. It’s a family in there,” Valdivia said. “I think that’s most of our success, where that’s coming from.”
Across the last three games, the Lefties have totalled 13 runs in the ninth inning to secure two wins.
“I know as a team, we gotta do a little better, just come out the gates strong and hit early,” Valdivia said. “But our ninth inning luck right now is amazing and I couldn’t ask for a better team right now.”
The Lefties — after taking four of six games from Kamloops — will return to Civic Field on Monday afternoon to complete a three-game set with the Nanaimo NightOwls at 1:35. Port Angeles split a two-game series with Nanaimo earlier this month and will look to win it outright.
