Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Adam Donnelly

WEST COST LEAGUE

NorthPaws excited to bring playoff baseball to Kamloops fans

Aug 9, 2022 | 12:29 PM

KAMLOOPS — Four wins. That’s all it will take for the Kamloops NorthPaws to win a West Coast League Championship in the club’s inaugural season.

“It’s been exciting, if nothing else,” Head Coach Cole Armstrong tells CFJC Sports. “We’ve had our highs and lows. At the end of the day, we came out and got done what we needed to get done, and found ourselves with a chance to win a championship, so we’re excited for the opportunity.”

The NorthPaws finished the year with 26 wins, 27 losses and one cancelled game, which was good enough to be the top expansion team and top Canadian team in the West Coast League. As a result, the club finished in third place overall in the WCL’s North Division. They’ll take on the Wenatchee AppleSox in the first round of the playoffs.

“Our mentality going into this is we’re going to do anything we’ve got to do to win [Tuesday night, Aug. 9], we’re going to get that done,” Armstrong says. “Then we’ll go down to Wenatchee and go with what we got.”

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Sean Heppner pitched in 10 games for the NorthPaws this season. He earned seven wins and posted an impressive 2.64 earned run average in 44 and ⅓ innings. He’ll get the start on the bump against the AppleSox in the series opener.

“It’s pretty exciting. It’s something that I’m really looking forward to and our team is looking forward to playing in the playoffs,” Heppner says, with a smile. “We’re looking forward to winning a championship in our first season, and we only have to make four wins to do it so hopefully we do it.”

The NorthPaws had success against Wenatchee this year but didn’t come away with the results. Despite winning just one of the six matchups against the AppleSox, the boys in black and red feel like they have the edge when it comes to offensive weaponry.

‘We’re a hitting team. There’s no doubt about it,” NorthPaws homerun leader Zack Beatty says. “There’s no sacrifice bunts, none of that. We don’t do any of that stuff. We’re a nose-to-the-grindstone team and we will beat you by playing our game.”

The NorthPaws also have a secret weapon they’re hoping can lift them to victory. The fans at NorBrock Stadium have been among the best in the West Coast League all year. The Paws hope that continues Tuesday night.

“We’ve had huge crowds as it is, and we were a .500 team,” Beatty says. “Now we’re in the playoffs and there’s an opportunity to see what’s going to turn out.”

“Playoff baseball is wholly different,” infielder Tommy Green says. “Being able to have game one here is obviously a crazy experience that [our fans] give us. I think that if we get away with game one we’ll be well on our way to a three-game series win.”

First pitch at NorBrock is at 6:35 pm Tuesday.