Written by Raptors Broadcaster Hunter Shumake
Ridgefield returns home to the Ridgefield Outdoor Recreation Complex after completing their longest road trip of the year. On the road trip, the Raps extended the franchise record for most consecutive wins to ten. The Ridgefield Raptors are the hottest team in the West Coast League.
The Raps have been on the road for six consecutive days, playing in Yakima and Bend. Since leaving the RORC on Tuesday, June 20th, Ridgefield have logged over 600 miles on the team bus traveling across Washington and down into Oregon. The road trip has been highlighted by superb play from the Raptors and they have earned the top spot in the southern division. Coming home, the Raps will welcome the Elks to Ridgefield for a back-to-back series against Bend after completing a series against the Bend Elks at Vince Genna Stadium.
In the past three games played against the Bend Elks, the Raps created offense with more than ten hits in every game. Of the three games, the closest contest came in game one. In that game, Ridgefield pulled out the 3-1 victory while Bend had the tying runs on base in the bottom of the 9th.
Looking ahead to the post season, the West Coast League gives two automatic births into the playoffs to the “first-half” season winners—one to the northern division and one to the southern division. The first half winners are determined by the overall record of the first 27 games played in the WCL season. Ridgefield have now completed 20 regular season games, with a record of 14-6 and lead the southern division. Portland and Corvallis are the closest teams behind Ridgefield; however, Portland (9-6) has played five less games than Ridgefield and Corvallis (10-7) has played three less than the Raptors. With the uncertainty of the games in hand by Portland and Corvallis, Ridgefield looks to continue their dominant play to control their destiny. July 4th will mark the 27th game of the WCL season for Ridgefield.
The Raptors host the Elks June 27th-29th at the RORC. The first pitch of the second series against the Elks is scheduled for 6:35 PM PDT on Tuesday, June 27th. For more information, visit ridgefieldraptors.com. #GoRaps