[Westheim]

2026 CONTINENTAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
Portland Raccoons (94-68) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (93-69)

Game 7 – Dan Delgadillo (12-7, 2.76 ERA) vs. Mike Cavallin (14-11, 3.45 ERA)

Without Harenberg, confidence took another nosedive. Yeah, yeah, we had won all the odd games in the series. That didn't mean we'd win this one, too. Needless to say, I slept nothing. But I sure wept a lot.

OCT: 3B L. Rivera – RF Sagredo – 1B M. Rucker – SS Serrato – LF de Santiago – C Burgess – CF Millan – 2B Ts'ai – P Cavallin
POR: SS Ramos – LF Spencer – RF Gomez – 1B Kopp – CF Jamieson – SS Stalker – 3B Nunley – C O'Dell – P Delgadillo

Delgadillo started out in his usual controlled fashion, which was swell, but the Coons would be so well off with early offense. Ramos opened the bottom 1st with a single, but was doubled up with Spencer on a grounder to short. Their next runner was Tim Stalker with a 2-out double in the bottom 2nd, beating Sagredo in rightfield. Nunley grounded to Cavallin, who had the ball slip from his hand as he tried to throw it, and the Coons moved to the corners on the error, bringing up O'Dell, who was due a big knock. Cavallin lacked bite so far, came down the middle, and O'Dell drove the 2-1 ball to left. De Santiago was beat and the ball fell in for a double, plating Stalker, and Nunley was sent around as well, with the ball being cut off by Serrato to keep O'Dell at second base at least. Delgadillo flew out, but the Coons had a 2-0 edge!

Nunley fumbling Ts'ai's grounder leading off the third inning was not going to calm my damn pulse. The Thunder bunted their guy to second, but Rivera popped up over the infield. Two down, Sagredo peppered a 1-2 pitch to deep center, but Jamieson had been on his horse all series long and didn't stop it now, making a fairly deep catch. Gomez and Kopp hit singles in the bottom 3rd, but were stranded when Jamieson grounded out.

And for now, Yusneldan seemed to have it all in his zone of control, retiring the Thunder in order in the fourth. Hah, just 15 more outs to collect. Easy! Maud, I need a new bucket – this one is full of sweat!

Tim Stalker tried to ease the pain of everybody with their eyes glued to the action, wrecking a fastball for a leadoff jack in the bottom 4th, extending the Coons' lead to 3-0. Mike Burgess hit a leadoff double in the fifth, but Delgadillo got him stranded with a pop, a K, and the pitcher coming up.

Bottom 5th, Ramos worked a leadoff walk, then stole second base. This cleverly took away the double play, but Spencer grounded out to third base anyway. Enter Gomez, the Thunder-wrecking ball, and a sharp grounder to left, past the infielders and into the outfield for a single. Ramos raced around, and slid in safe by at least ten feet, extending the lead to 4-0! Kopp reached on an error by Serrato, bringing up Jamieson with a chance for a fatal blow, but he rolled into a double play.

Whenever Delgadillo did miss a beat and did something sub-par, the rest of the team immediately picked him up. This happened again in the sixth, when Dan walked Luis Sagredo with one out, and Rucker hit a real shot on the ground. It bounced only once on its way past the mound, but Ramos swiped it before falling on his bum, but could still lob it to second for the force, and we were talking about Mike Rucker here. He had a gray moustache. He hadn't been quick ten years ago, and he was sure no quick now, and easily doubled off even on this play. Nine more!

Then the seventh. There was a leadoff walk to Serrato, which was not ideal to be honest. Less ideal even was O'Dell trying to pick him off with de Santiago batting, but throwing the ball past Kopp to give Serrato second base. Delgadillo struck out de Santiago, but then got burned in a full count when Mike Burgess homered to left. Oh dang. The Coons scrambled. Jeff Kearney came in to face Millan, but yielded a single, and now was indeed Ohl time. He entered in a double play that removed Nunley for Bullock, with the #9 spot due up leading off the bottom 7th, but the Critters had yet to get there. Millan stole second base, but Ohl ended the inning with a crucial strikeout on Ts'ai, and Portland remained up by a pair. Top 8th, K to Rivera, Sagredo grounded out to Bullock, and Rucker grounded out to Ramos again. Three more…!

Meanwhile we would not spit an insurance run in the mouth exactly. When Cavallin walked Gomez to begin the bottom 8th, the Coons called a hit-and-run, but Kopp missed and the runners was thrown out by Burgess. Kopp and Jamieson were then retired by Arellano, so no insurance run materialized.

Ninth inning. Showdown. Ricky Ohl would face Serrato, who the Raccoons had held to a .208 clip and a lone RBI in the series. He grounded out to short, which was the end of the line for Ohl. Brotman came out to face de Santiago WHILE rain began to fall. NOT NOW!! WE'RE WINNING HERE!! Brotman got a groundout, and then everybody got another pitching change. Snyder would face Burgess, who was the Thunder's last line of defense, and even then we employed a double switch that put Cookie in the #7 hole and removed Jamieson from the game. Burgess took a strike. And another one. Then he spanked the 0-2 in play. Grounder to short. Ramos. Kopp. Ballgame.

Raccoons 4, Thunder 2 – Raccoons win series, 4-3

Gomez 2-3, BB, RBI; Stalker 2-3, HR, 2B, RBI; O'Dell 1-3, 2B, 2 RBI; Delgadillo 6.1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (2-0); Ohl 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

(falls onto the couch, exhausted, while Chad keeps dancing through the room in full costume and Slappy toasts in appreciation)