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Wenatchee AppleSox capture third WCL title

The Wenatchee AppleSox swept both the East Divisional Series and WCL Championship Series to capture their third WCL title in five years.

The Sox avenged their WCL Championship Series loss last summer to Corvallis by sweeping the Knights in 2009.

Wenatchee rode the left arm of junior-to be Reedy Berg of Gonzaga to register road wins at Elks Stadium in Kelowna and Goss Stadium in Corvallis.

Berg won game one of the East Divisional Series as Reedy and Ryan Gorton of Oregon State combined to shutout Kelowna 2-0.

The Sox closed out the series the next night in Wenatchee beating the Falcons 4-3 as the Sox jumped out to an early 4-0 lead and held on for the victory.

Brian Burke of Kansas Wesleyan led the Sox early charge going 3-for-4 with two doubles and two RBI and closer Paris Shewey of Washington State finished off Kelowna by pitching a scoreless ninth to earn the save.

AppleSox pitching shined throughout the postseason allowing only six runs over 4 games.

Wenatchee took game one of the WCL Championship Series by the score of 4-1 before 1,297 Sox fans at Paul Thomas Sr. Stadium.

Zach Gallagher of Columbia Basin College gave up only one run and tossed six solid innings to earn the win, Gorton pitched two scoreless innings and Shewey registered his second postseason save.

The Sox were led offensively by two freshmen-to be, Cody Keefer of UCLA and Matt Moynihan of University of San Diego. Keefer went 4-for-5 and collected two RBI and Moynihan delivered the game-winner in the sixth inning, a two-run triple.

Wenatchee completed its perfect playoff run by beating Corvallis 4-2 at Goss Stadium on Monday, August 17.

Before a crowd of 1,155, Wenatchee quieted the Knights’ faithful by scoring four runs in the second inning to go up 4-0. Second baseman Jesse Moore of University of Hawaii delivered the game-winning hit, a two-run single. Outfielders Kyle Johnson of Washington State and Josh Takayoshi also delivered RBI singles in the inning.

Corvallis designated hitter Adam Melker of Cal Poly homered off Berg in the fourth, but that’s all the Knights would get off the southpaw.

The Knights did make a valiant comeback in the ninth, starting the inning with three consecutive singles and cutting the deficit to two runs, but Shewey induced a 5-4-3 doubleplay and flyout to end the game and record his third save of the postseason.

Wenatchee finished the season on a 9-game win streak and won 17 of its last 19 games.

Corvallis wrapped the season with a 49-13 overall record (38-10 in league) and lost three of its last four games after posting a record for league wins in the regular season with 38.