The Victoria HarbourCats played their final game of 2024 at Wilson’s Group Stadium at Royal Athletic Park on Wednesday night, but their season is far from over.
The HarbourCats beat the visiting Corvallis Knights 11-8 on Wednesday to finish the regular season at 29-25 and now they’ll turn their attention to the West Coast League playoffs. The only problem is, they won’t get to play any playoff games on their home diamond. Thanks to the City of Victoria needing access to Royal Athletic Park to begin preparations for the Touchdown Pacific CFL game between the ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Lions and Ottawa Redblack on Aug. 31, the HarbourCats’ ‘home’ playoff games will be played up-Island at Serauxmen Stadium in Nanaimo, the home of the HarbourCats’ WCL-rival NightOwls.
The first of those playoff games goes Saturday night as the fourth-seed HarbourCats host Game 1 of their best-of-three North Division semifinal series against the top-ranked Wenatchee AppleSox. Games 2, and 3 if needed, will be played at Paul Thomas Sr. Stadium in Wenatchee, Washington.
The other North Division semifinal series features the second-seed Bellingham Bells taking on the third-seed Edmonton Riverhawks. The Riverhawks will host Game 1 on Saturday at Re-Max Field in the Alberta capital.
In the South Division, the Knights will face the Ridgfield Raptors, while the Bend Elks will play the Portland Pickels.
At Royal Athletic Park on Wednesday night, the HarbourCats spotted the defending WCL-champion Knights a 6-0 first-inning lead and then stormed back thanks to multiple-hot games from Kamana Nahaku, Sky Collins, Tyrus Hall, Kerim Orucevic, Jai Berezowski and Ryan Deagle.
Hall led the RBI tally with three, while Nahaku, Collins and Deagle had two RBIs each.
EXTRA BASES: The HarbourCats will have a fan bus going to Saturday’s game in Nanaimo. A round-trip bus ride and one ticket to the game costs $50. The bus will depart Gate 3 at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre on Saturday at 4 p.m. Bus tickets can be purchased at the HarbourCats office (101-1814 Vancouver St.) or by calling the office at 778-265-0327.
