Opening Day Put On Pause

The Wenatchee AppleSox’ first game of the 2022 season got off to an exciting start with a combined 24 runs between them and the Bend Elks through the first seven-and-a-half innings on Friday night at Vince Genna Stadium.

However, seven-and-a-half complete innings is as far as the season opener would get before lighting issues caused the game to be suspended due to darkness.

At 10:20 p.m. with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning the light pole closest to the right side of the press box (pictured above) abruptly turned off. As both head coaches convened to discuss what to do next the other two light structures in the picture above also went out before all of the light poles turned off and left the ballpark pitch black except for the lights of the press box, the scoreboard in right field and the third base concession stand.

Bend Elks players began putting a tarp out on the mound and another on home plate as both sides waited for an official decision amidst the rain. No official announcement was made but nearly ever fan had left the ballpark when all of the lights went out.

Opening Day had drama even before the lights went out. Trailing 11-8 entering the seventh inning, Wenatchee rallied to score four runs to take the lead and added insurance in an inning later. Joichiro Oyama hit a one-out triple to center and scored two batters later on a sacrifice fly. CJ Horn doubled in a pair with a long fly ball to the gap in left-center field to tie the game before Carson Lydon gave Wenatchee it’s first lead since the top of the second with a hot-shot single off first baseman Caden Delozier’s glove.

The AppleSox’ bats came out hot to open up the game. Wenatchee scored four runs in the first inning thanks to each of their first five hitters reaching base safely. Oyama and Michael Davinni opened up the season with back-to-back singles before Fahsel drove both of them in two batters later with a 2-RBI single. Lydon and Xander Orejudos hit a couple of hard ground outs that plated two more runs and the AppleSox sent all but one of their hitters to the plate.

Bend tied it up in the bottom of the first off a grand slam but the AppleSox retook the lead in the top of the second briefly on an RBI-double by Davinni before the Elks scored three times in the bottom of the second.

The two teams went back-and-forth a bit as the Elks struck three times in the bottom of the third to take a five-run lead but the Sox clawed back with a three-run frame of their own in the fourth.

Davinni had a memorable debut, going 2-for-3 with three walks and three runs scored. Fahsel, signed to a 10-day contract less than a week ago, drove in five runs, scored three times and drew two walks. Eight-of-nine AppleSox hitters recorded at least one base hit and the third-highest scoring team in the West Coast League from a year prior got off to a memorable start offensively.

Garrett Gores put forth a gutsy effort in relief for the AppleSox by tossing four innings out of the bullpen He allowed four runs on seven hits but struck out six and only walked one. He held the Elks off the scored board in the fourth and fifth innings after they combined to score 10 runs through the first three innings. Quincy Vassar followed him up with 1.2 innings of scoreless relief and four strikeouts until the stoppage of play.

No official decision has been made by the West Coast League on the resumption of Friday night’s game. The AppleSox are in Bend again on Saturday at 6:35 p.m. before wrapping up the series on Sunday at 5:05 p.m. Stay tuned to applesox.com as well as AppleSox social media accounts for the latest updates on the resumption of Friday night’s game.