Westfield Blue defeats Chatham 12-11 in nail biter

Westfield narrowly defeated a tough and scrappy Chatham team by the score of 12-11. Nick Mele started the game for Westfield and pitched 2 strong shutout innings and Eric Varakian, Chris “Mariano” Varano and Vin “Madman” Difilippo combined to pitch the last 4 innings getting out of tough jams when they needed to. Difilippo was especially tough entering the game in a bases loaded situation and only one out in the 5th and shutting down the Chatham threat.

Westfield’s offense jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the 1st. Eric Varakian led off with a walk and Chris Rinaldi followed with a double to the center field fence. Nick Mele followed with a 2 run double. After walks to Chris “Boots” Boutsikaris and Hopper Murray, Devin “The Animal” Anderson took one for the team and got an RBI when he was hit with a pitch. The inning ended without further scoring, but only because of a great play by the Chatham right fielder who fielded a one hop rocket off of the bat of Brett Robertshaw in right center field and threw to 2nd base to get the force out.

Westfield got 2 more in the 3rd and one more in the 4th In the 3rd, Rinaldi led off with a double and was promptly singled home by Boots. Boots stole a couple of bases and scored on a hard grounder that was hit by Vin Difilippo. In the 4th, Devin Anderson led off with a double to the left center field fence, advanced to 3rd on a Scott Tupper single and scored on a hard grounder from Brett Robertshaw. The score was 6-1 after Westfield’s turn at bat in the 4th, but Chatham stormed back with 3 in the bottom half of the inning to make it a close game.

Eric Varakian pitched solidly in the 3rd and 4th innings and Chris Varano and Vin Difilippo combined to pitch the 5th for Westfield. Chatham was threatening in the 5th and Difilippo came on to put out the fire and he also pitched the 6th to pick up the save.

The offense scored 6 runs in the top of the 5th to give Westfield some breathing room. Ethan “Smiley” Smith led off the inning with a single and Varakian followed with a double. Rinaldi was hit with a pitch to load the bases and then Mele, Boots Difilippo and Murray each hit the ball hard to knock in runs. Murray’s single, which was a missile of a line drive to right field, drove in Rinaldi and Mele and then “The Animal” Anderson cleared the bases with his 2nd double of the day. Mariano Varano knocked in Anderson with a single to close out the scoring.

Westfield got a big scare when Chatham batted in the bottom of 6th when Chatham pulled within 1 run and had 2nd and 3rd with only one out, but solid pitching and very good defense allowed Westfield to escape. With one out and 2nd and 3rd, the runner on 3rd attempted to score on a slow roller to 3rd that slipped past the Westfield 3rd baseman. Shortstop Chris Rinaldi backed up the play and threw a strike to catcher Nick Mele for the 2nd out. The batter advanced to 2nd on the play and Chatham once again had the tying and winning runs on base when second baseman Eric Varakian made the defensive play of the game. Varakian made a diving play in short right center field on a soft fly ball that looked like it would drop in for the winning hit. Varakian was mobbed by his teammates after the play.

The Westfield defense was solid throughout most of the contest. Pitcher Difilippo made an amazing play on a soft grounder to the left side of the mound and threw a strike to Nick Mele at 1st from his knees to nip the Chatham runner and end the 5th inning. Rinaldi made a nice backhand stab at short and threw across to a stretching Boots at 1st for a key out early in the game. Robertshaw made a nice catch on a high pop up in foul territory off of 3rd base for an important out in the 5th inning. Matt Macik hit the ball hard in each plate appearance and was robbed of a hit in 2 of his 3 at bats.

Next up is Berkley Heights on Wednesday at 6pm in Berkley Heights. Warm ups will start at 5:20pm and the boys will wear their gray uniforms.