VANCOUVER — For the second time this year, a Port Angeles Leftie has earned recognition from the West Coast League for their outstanding play.
Pitcher Takuma Sato was named the Baker Tilly WCL Pitcher of the Week for his outstanding performance against the Victoria HarbourCats on Friday.
Sato, from Osaka, Japan, attends Mount Hood Community College in Gresham, Ore.
Against Victoria, Sato (3-1) pitched a complete-game one-hitter, striking out 12 and walking just one in a 5-1 victory. It was only the fifth complete game thrown by a WCL pitcher this season.
It was Sato’s second great outing for the Lefties. Against Kelowna on July 19, he went six innings, allowed four hits and one earned run while walking four and striking out six.
Named the WCL Player of the Week was Portland Pickles infielder Bryson Glassco of Oregon State.
Earlier this year, Lefties outfielder Tommy Markey was named a WCL Player of the Week after hitting 12-for-25 over six games. Markey was later named the WCL All-Star MVP for driving in two runs in the North Division’s victory over the South.
The Lefties’ Jack Edmunds had a solid shot to be named WCL Player of the Week this week. Over a six-game stretch between July 27 and Sunday, Edmunds (Brown) went 14-for-29 with two home runs, two doubles and nine RBIs.
Playoff teams set
With only three days left in the West Coast League’s regular season, all eight postseason berths have been clinched.
For the first round of the playoffs, the No. 1 seeds were clinched some weeks ago, as the Bellingham Bells held off the Wenatchee AppleSox in the North, and the Portland Pickles stormed to the South’s first-half crown with a 21-4 record.
Three more postseason slots were available in each division, and in the North those have been earned by the Wenatchee AppleSox, the Edmonton Riverhawks and the Victoria HarbourCats. In the South, the defending League champion Pickles have been joined by the Corvallis Knights, the Bend Elks and the first-year Marion Berries out of Salem, Ore.
