Pippins Walk off Kamloops to Break Four-Game Skid
August 7, 2024 - West Coast League (WCL)
Yakima Valley Pippins News Release
YAKIMA, Washington - Yakima Valley's Pippins had lost four straight games in what has been a tough finish to the 2024 campaign. They entered the final series of the summer with almost no momentum. Toussaint Bythewood changed all of that with a clutch swing of the bat in the 10 inning on Tuesday.
Yakima Valley walked off the Kamloops NorthPaws in the opening matchup of the final series of the summer. It was a 7-6 win thanks to Bythewood's RBI single down the third base line to bring in the winning run at The Orchard.
The Pipps got great performances from multiple players offensively. They put together 13 hits, with four of them coming from Julian Angulo. His best game of the season finished with a 4-for-5 effort at the dish, and a run scored at the end of the night.
The Cal Poly Pomona first baseman added his 12th and 13th doubles of the summer in this game too, placing him eighth-best in the league in that category.
Angulo was joined by Bythewood, Spencer Shipman and Kaden Kirshenbaum in the multi-hit performance category. Ten of the 13 Pippins hits came from those four names alone, while Dom Longo, Rece Schuerman and AJ Hendrickson each contributed one.
On the mound, Yakima Valley went to Carl Moland-Kovash for the start. The Whitman sophomore finished with 5.0 innings pitched and allowed five unearned runs on four walks and four strikeouts. He was eventually replaced by Lee Souza in the sixth, and the Yakima Valley College junior was solid as well.
Souza went for four innings out of the bullpen, and only allowed one run during this outing. He recorded two strikeouts and came out of the game in the tenth in favor of Garin Gurtler. The Big Bend pitcher delivered a scoreless tenth frame, with two strikeouts in a clutch performance.
This is what brought Yakima Valley to the 10th inning tied 6-6, but the Pipps were only in this game because of the eighth-inning frenzy offensively. Yakima Valley plated four runs in the eighth to tie the game.
The offense was highlighted by a Shipman triple, and three other Pippins base knocks. Casey Wayne, Angulo, Shipman and Kirshenbaum came around in the best offensive inning for Yakima Valley all night.
In the 10th, Kirshenbaum led off with a double. He moved to third on a sacrifice bunt from Hendrickson. Then, Aidan Morrison nearly was able to bring the Montana State University Billings product home for the final 90 feet, but a pop out in left field held Kirshenbaum at third.
Bythewood stepped up with two outs and rolled a third-base side ground ball past Dylan Dekker to give the Pippins the victory. Yakima Valley earned their first win in almost a week and started the final series of the summer strong.
There are only two more games left in the regular season, and the Pipps will look to take at least one of the two to end 2024 on a high note. Another win gives the Pippins the series victory, which is something that they haven't done in over a month.
• Discuss this story on the West Coast League message board...
West Coast League Stories from August 7, 2024
- Pippins Walk off Kamloops to Break Four-Game Skid - Yakima Valley Pippins
- Hoiland's Season-Long Effort Not Enough Tuesday - Wenatchee AppleSox
- Cats Fall Just Short Losing 5-4 to Knights - Victoria HabourCats
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
