PORT ANGELES — A large Civic Field crowd listed at 2,579 turned out to say goodbye to a season of summer baseball as the Port Angeles Lefties fell 4-3 nonleague to the Highline Bears on Tuesday night.
With the Lefties’ West Coast League season wrapped up and star players such as Jason Dicochea, Kyle Schimpf and more already headed home, Port Angeles fielded a roster comprised of athletes from around Western Washington.
The Lefties leaned heavily on Skagit Valley College players for the final game. Port Angeles manager and Skagit Valley assistant Darren Westergard tabbed the Cardinals’ Rudy Engstrom, Dalton Hawk, Alex Yu and Nic Roes to start in the outfield and behind the plate, respectively.
Port Angeles’ Brady Shimko, a 2018 Port Angeles High School graduate and Wilder Baseball Club player, pitched in the ninth inning and picked up the loss after allowing two runs on three hits and a walk.
Shimko will play for Olympic College beginning this fall.
Port Angeles scored all three of its runs in the first inning.
Engstrom led off with a single, moved to third base on a dropped third strike that put Hawk at first and later scored on a Cameron Bogard sacrifice fly.
Hawk stole second and moved to third on a fielders’ choice and Roes was hit by a pitch to reach base.
Both later came home on a wild pitch for a 3-0 Lefties’ lead.
Lefties’ starter Kyle Nomrick cruised through seven innings on the mound, allowing just two hits and three walks while striking out six.
Future Skagit Valley pitcher Trevor Cassell allowed two Highline runs in the eighth to pull the Bears within one run, 3-2.
And Shimko allowed an RBI single and a bases-loaded walk to score the eventual winning run in the ninth.
Engstrom, Hawk and Bogard went down 1-2-3 in the bottom half of the ninth to close out the contest and the season.
Lefties host concert
MarchForth and the Sam Chase Band will perform at a Civic Field concert Saturday.
The concert, with doors opening at 3 p.m., is sponsored by the Lefties and the Juan de Fuca Foundation for the Arts.
Tickets are $20 for ages 13 and up, $10 for 12 and younger, $50 for families in advance at www.brownpapertickets.com.
Tickets are $25 per person at the door.
Highline 4, Port Angeles 3
Bears 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 — 4 7 2
Lefties 3 0 0 0 0 0 0— 3 6 1
WP: Palmer LP: Shimko
Pitching
Bears — Cortez 4.1IP, 5H, 3R, 2BB, 5K; Palmer 4.2IP, H, 3K.
Lefties — Nomrick 7IP, 2H, 3BB, 6K; Cassell 0.1IP, 2H, 2ER, BB; Williams 0.2IP; Shimko IP, 3H, 2ER, BB.
Hitting
Bears — Simmons 2-4, 2 2B, 2RBI; Chambers 2-3, R, Miller 1-4, 3B, R.
Lefties — Denny 2-4; Engstrom 1-4, R; Bogard 0-3, SF, RBI.
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Compiled from team reports. Email scores to sports@peninsuladailynews.com or phone 360-417-3525.
