The inaugural edition of the Columbia River Cup is coming down to the wire between the Ridgefield Raptors and the Cowlitz Black Bears. The rivalry will be settled this week as the Black Bears travel to Ridgefield for a three game series beginning Tuesday at 6:35 p.m.
Wednesday and Thursday’s games are also at 6:35 and all three games will be streamed live via RidgefieldRaptors.com, where tickets are also available.
The two southwest Washington franchises began the Columbia River Cup this year, which is awarded to the team with the better record among the seven games played between Ridgefield and Cowlitz. Both teams have claimed two games so far, so the winner of this week’s series will win the first edition of the CRC.
After Cowlitz won the season opener on June 2 in a non-league affair, Ridgefield took two of three games up in Longview in July. Now the Raptors are back at home, where they have won six games in a row.
The Raptors are 23-16 after sweeping the Walla Walla Sweets this weekend. Ridgefield has three series remaining on the summer: the Black Bears (at home), the Knights (at Corvallis Friday, at home Saturday and Sunday) and the Sweets (in Walla Walla on August 10-12). The Raptors are tied with the Portland Pickles for a playoff spot with nine games remaining and the Raptors have the tiebreaker.
If Ridgefield makes the playoffs, the Raptors will play at home on August 14 and then travel to Corvallis on August 15 for Game 2 (and Game 3, if necessary). If the Raptors win that series, they would make the championship series beginning August 18.
Caden Connor was named West Coast League Player of the Week after going 12-for-16 at the plate in the Walla Walla series, including a Ridgefield record 6-for-6 on Sunday in the comeback win. No Raptors player had ever totaled five hits, let alone six in one game. Caden also had his first two home runs of the year this weekend. The Cal State Fullerton product joins John Peck as the two Raptors players to earn WCL Player of the Week this summer.