AppleSox walk off Bells in extra innings, extend series win streak

WENATCHEE — Aidan Dougherty's walkoff double in the bottom of the 10th inning lifted the Wenatchee AppleSox to an 8-7 victory over the Bellingham Bells on Thursday night at Paul Thomas Sr. Stadium, securing the series win for the home team.

Elijah Pelayo drew a leadoff walk in the 10th and advanced to second on an errant pickoff throw before Dougherty drove him in with a long fly to right-center field. The hit was Dougherty's fifth of the night, marking the second time in his first 10 games this summer that he has recorded one of the eight five-hit games in AppleSox history. Dougherty also drove in each of the AppleSox's final three runs.

Bellingham (6-6) managed to tie the game with a two-run single in the bottom of the ninth when down to their final strike, forcing extra innings. Wenatchee (9-3) only trailed once throughout the game and held five different leads.

AppleSox starter Matthew DelVecchio allowed three runs (two earned) over five innings, striking out three while giving up five hits and issuing three walks. David James earned the win with 2.2 innings of relief, stranding two runners in scoring position in the eighth and striking out two in a perfect 10th inning. Carter Seely also contributed 1.2 scoreless innings, striking out three between the seventh and eighth innings.

The Bells opened the scoring in the first inning thanks to a two-out error, but Antonio Gianni responded with a two-out, two-run double in the bottom of the frame. Bellingham kept the two-out scoring going with an RBI double in the second, but the AppleSox regained the lead in the bottom of the inning when Max Hartman was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

Wenatchee took a 5-4 lead in the fifth on Luca Boscarino's sacrifice fly, but the Bells answered with a two-out, two-run single in the sixth to briefly take their only lead of the night. The AppleSox immediately responded in the bottom of the inning, tying the game on a throwing error and taking the lead on Dougherty's RBI single.

With the series victory, the AppleSox have now won each of their first four series of the season. They will travel to Canada this weekend to face the Kamloops NorthPaws at Norbrock Stadium, with the series set to begin on Friday night at 6:35 p.m.