Westfield defeates Merrill Park to open Cranford tournament (6/23)

The boys opened up strong in the Cranford tournament defeating Merrill Park (MP) 13-3. Vin Difilippo, Hopper Murray and Chris “Mariano” Varano limited MP to 1 hit while striking out 9 batters. Mariano’s cutter was working so well that one of his pitches actually broke one of the MP hitter’s bat in half.

The defensive plays of the game were turned in by Eric Varakian, Matt Macik and Chris “Boots” Boutsakaris. Varakian made a diving catch in right field on a sinking liner to right field with a runner on first base to stop a potential MP rally. Macik turned in a stellar play at 3rd base to record the last out of the game. He charged a ground ball to throw and made a strong throw to Boots at 1st, who made a great stretch to nip the MP runner.

The offense continued to shine with the team collecting a total of 15 hits. Westfield jumped out to an early 6-0 lead in the first. Mele started the scoring with a 2 run single that scored Varakian and Rinaldi. Boots, Brett Robertshaw and Devin Anderson followed with RBI singles and then Hopper Murray cleared the bases with a double to right field. Mele, Anderson and Boots each finished with 3 hits and Anderson, Murray and Mele each had 3 RBIs. Varakian was 2 for 3 with a double and 2 runs scored and Rinaldi had a double and scored 3 times.

The win puts Westfield at 4-0 for the season. Next up – Roselle Park on Sunday at 3pm in the Cranford tournament.