AppleSox Walk Off Bells To Win Series

Aidan Dougherty hit a walkoff double in the bottom of the 10th inning and the Wenatchee AppleSox defeated the Bellingham Bells, 8-7, on Thursday night at Paul Thomas Sr. Stadium.

Elijah Pelayo led off the inning with a walk before going to second on an errant pickoff throw. Dougherty drove him in with a long fly to right-center field for his fifth hit of the night. Dougherty has recorded two of the eight five-hit games in AppleSox history in his first 10 games of the summer. He drove in each of the AppleSox final three runs.

Bellingham (6-6) tied the game up with a two-run single in the bottom of the ninth inning when it was down to its final strike to force extras. Wenatchee (9-3) only trailed once and held five different leads.

Matthew DelVecchio gave up three runs (two earned) while striking out three, allowing five hits and issuing three walks over five innings. David James earned the win with 2.2 innings out of the pen. He stranded two men in scoring position in the eighth and then struck out two in a 1-2-3 top of the 10th. Carter Seely tossed 1.2 scoreless innings from the seventh through the eighth and struck out three.

The Bells got on the board first thanks to a two-out error in the top of the first before Antonio Gianni responded with a two-out 2-RBI double in the bottom of the frame. Bellingham kept the two-out action going with a double to plate another run in the second. The AppleSox took a 3-2 lead in the second when Max Hartman was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. The Bells responded with a solo home run in the top of the third to cap the scoring in a chaotic first five half innings.

Luca Boscarino hit a sacrifice fly after Dougherty doubled to lead off the fifth to put the AppleSox back in the lead, 5-4. A two-out 2-RBI single in the top of the sixth gave the Bells their only lead of the night as Wenatchee answered in the bottom of the inning to get back in front. Jayden Holloway drew a two-out walk before Pelayo singled to right. Holloway rounded second for third and the throw over there went into the AppleSox dugout to tie the game before Pelayo scored a batter later on a single by Dougherty.

Dougherty gave the AppleSox an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth to again score Pelayo after he singled and stole second to start the inning.

The AppleSox have won each of their first four series of the season and now travel to Canada to face the Kamloops NorthPaws this weekend at Norbrock Stadium. The series begins Friday night at 6:35.