Westfield Blue defeats Cranford 14-0 in Cranford semi-final game

Westfield advanced to the championship game of the Cranford tournament with a 14-0, mercy rule shortened game. Nick Mele (3 innings) and Chris Rinaldi (2 innings) shared the pitching duties and combined on the shutout. The offense staked Mele to an early 3-0 lead in the top of the 1st inning courtesy of back to back doubles by Eric Varakian and Chris Rinaldi and an RBI single by Vin Difilippo. Westfield pushed across another run in the 2nd when Devin Anderson, who had been hit by a pitch, came around to score on an RBI single by Varakian. It remained a 4-0 Westfield lead until the top of the 4th inning when the offense exploded for 5 runs. Scott Tupper led off the inning with a single and Ethan Smith followed a batter later with a walk. With 2 on a 2 out Varakian came to the plate and promptly blasted a 2 run triple down the right field line to clear the bases. Rinaldi singled home Varakian and then 4 consecutive walks to Mele, Chris “Boots” Boutsikaris and Difilippo pushed across 2 more runs. Westfield scored 5 more runs in the 5th to end the game. Ethan Smith singled and then walks to Chris “Mariano” Varano, Varakian, Rinaldi pushed one across and left the bases loaded for Mele. Mele who already had two home runs this year, hammered a pitch over the left center field fence for a grand slam. The shot hit 2/3rds of the way up the telephone pole in left center and is estimated to have been 250 feet. Matt “Freight Train” Macik also had a key RBI in the win.

Westfield was strong defensively with Varakian and Boots making strong defensive plays in the field and Difilippo was solid behind the plate. Hopper Murray and Brett Robertshaw also played well defensively. Tupper and Difilippo combined on the defensive play of the game in the 3rd inning when with a runner on 2nd a Cranford batter singled to center. Scott Tupper aggressively tracked down the ball in center field and then fired a one hop strike to Difilippo at the plate who made a nice play fielding the throw and applying the tag.

The win puts Westfield in the Cranford tournament finals against Hillsborough on Sunday night at 8pm. The boys will wear their blue jerseys.