Westfield takes 2nd Place in the Cranford Tournament

In an exciting and action packed game, Westfield and Hillsborough battled into extra innings in the Cranford Tournament 9 year old championship game. Westfield lost the contest in the 7th inning by a score of 4-3, however Westfield put forth a tremendous team effort and the coaches are extremely proud of the way the boys played.

Westfield got fabulous pitching from Nick Mele who threw the 1st 3 innings, and from Chris Rinaldi who pitched the last 4 innings. The two Westfield pitchers allowed only 4 runs on 6 hits over 7 innings while striking out 10.

Westfield jumped out to an 2-0 lead in the first inning on three hits and a sac fly. With one out, Chris Rinaldi doubled to left center field and advanced to third on a single by Nick Mele. Mele stole 2nd and Chris “Boots” Boutsikaris drove a deep fly to center that allowed Rinaldi to score from third and Mele to advance to 3rd. Vin Difilippo immediately followed with a hard hit double down the left field line that scored Mele.

Hillsborough tied the score at 2 in the top of the 2nd courtesy of a couple of defensive misplays. The inning might have been worse for Westfield had it not been for a spectacular play by catcher Difilippo who made a diving catch on a pop up bunt for the 2nd out of the inning. Difilippo actually dove backwards towards the backstop and backhanded the ball before crashing to the ground.

The score remained 2-2 until the top of the 5th inning when Hillsborough scored 1 run. Westfield immediately got to work in the bottom of the 5th and tied the score on a controversial play at the plate. Hopper Murray and Chris Varano walked and advanced on a passed ball, leaving runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out. Eric Varakian hit a ground ball between the pitcher and the 3rd baseman and Hopper “Pickle” Murray ran to the plate on contact. The pitcher fielded the ball and threw home. Pickle, realizing that he would be out if he continued running home, alertly began returning to 3rd base. He drew 3 throws running back and forth between 3rd and home until he saw an opportunity to score and he went hard for the plate. The 3rd baseman threw home to the catcher and Pickle executed a perfect slide to the inside part of the plate and successfully avoided the catcher’s tag to tie the score at 3.

Neither team scored in the 6th so the game went into extra innings. In the top of the 7th, Hillsborough strung together 3 hits to score the go ahead run. Westfield batters Macik, Murray and Brett Robertshaw battled hard in the bottom of the 7th, but the comeback was not to be on this night.

The defense was solid for Westfield throughout the contest. Second baseman Varakian made two great plays on hard hit liners and Pickle Murray made two nice plays in center field on balls hit to the gap. Difilippo and Mele made a great play to nail a Hillsborough runner attempting to steal 2nd base. Difilippo threw a laser towards the 1st base side of 2nd base and Mele fielded it and spun backwards to make the tag and record the out. The entire team was alert in the field and all plays were backed up properly. Scott Tupper and Brett Robertshaw played a strong 3rd base and Ethan Smith, Chris “Mariano” Varano and Macik played strong defense in the outfield. Devin “the Animal” Anderson, who was the EH for the game, hit the ball hard in his 1st two at bats, but was robbed by the Hillsborough defense both times.

Next up is Westfield White in North Jersey league play. The game is on Monday at 6pm at Tamaques #6. Warm ups begin at 5:30pm and the boys will wear their gray jerseys.