The Port Angeles Lefties spend a lot of time on the road, but Tuesday was a trip they will never forget.
Traveling in a separate SUV ahead of their team bus, a group of players and coaches were first on the scene of a serious car accident.
The vehicle had driven off the road near Chilliwack and was laying in the ditch spewing smoke.
“The guys in the back were sleeping and we hit the brakes and woke them up real quick,” said Lefties Manager Darren Westergard.
“We rushed down there and the front end was already on fire, so we pulled her out and not long after the whole car went up in flames.”
The woman trapped inside the smoking vehicle was 67-year-old Kelowna resident Linda Jack.
“I had ended up off the road and was really in peril,” said Jack. “Darren came and got the car door open and helped me out, while the rest of the boys grabbed my insurance papers and luggage.”
Jack sustained some minor injuries but had been cleared by paramedics at the scene of the accident when Westergard asked where she was from.
“I told them I was from Kelowna and he said the team was traveling there to play ball that night,” explained Jack. “So I loaded in with all the boys and they said I hope you like country music and they sang the whole way home.”
The rescue was serendipitous for the baseball team, whose bus had missed a couple of exits while traveling across the Washington State border and was running behind schedule.
“The timing was crazy, we were frustrated and running late, but it’s weird how life works and we were glad to help her out,” explained Westergard.
Coincidentally, Jack has been a baseball fan for much of her life.
“My husband passed away five years ago, but we used to go and watch the Falcons games,” said Jack. “The boys drove me right to my front door, they really went above and beyond, so I told them I’m cheering for the Lefties this week."
The good karma didn’t directly transfer over to the baseball diamond, where the Lefties lost 6-2 to the Kelowna Falcons during the opening night of a three game series.
Still recovering from a broken hand, Jack couldn’t make Tuesday night’s game but hopes to be in attendance for the final game of the series on Thursday.
- With files from Dayne Patterson
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