Westfield traveled to Florham Park on a steamy hot afternoon for the 3rd time this month. The 1st two trips did not go so well for Westfield and in both earlier games, the Blue Devils did not play their best baseball and ended up losing both contests. Today's game, which was the Central Jersey Baseball League 12U semi-final game, started in a similar manner to the 1st two meetings.
In the 1st inning with runners on 2nd and 3rd and one out, the Florham Park catcher threw behind the runner at 3rd base and got him in a run down. After Florham Park tagged out that runner, they then went after the runner who had started on 2nd base and they got him in a run down and tagged him out to complete a double play and end the inning. Florham Park then scored 3 runs in their half of the inning courtesy of 4 consecutive singles and a couple of balks.
Westfield seemed to recover some in the 2nd when Vin Difilippo led off with a smashing double down the left field. Difilippo advanced to 3rd on a passed ball and then scored on an RBI ground out by Chris Boutsikaris to cut the lead to 3-1. Difilippo started on the mound for Westfield and he went 3 strong innings. He did not allow a run after the 1st inning and he struck out 3 batters.
The Blue Devils scored another run in the 4th when Chris Varano, who reached on a fielder's choice, stole 2nd base. Varano then advanced to 3rd on a Chris Rinaldi single and scored on a Difilippo RBI single to cut the Florham Park lead to 3-2.
Chris Rinaldi took over on the mound for Westfield in the 4th and held Florham Park to one unearned run over the final 3 frames. He allowed no hits and recorded 7 of the 9 outs by way of strike out.
The Westfield bats exploded in the 5th inning and broke the game open. Brett Robertshaw started the rally with a single and he came around to score all the way from 1st base when Hopper Murray launched a 1-1 curveball over the left fielder's head for an RBI double. Scott Tupper walked and both runners advanced on steals to put runners on 2nd and 3rd. Liam Heinbokel then cleared the bases with a clutch 2 RBI triple to deep left center field that gave Westfield a 5-3 lead. Michael Mobarakai and Eric Varakian walked to load the bases and Heinbokel scored on an RBI fielder's choice by Varano. Chris Rinaldi singled home Mobarakai and Difilippo followed with a RBI single of his own. Devin "Big Dog" Anderson then knocked home Rinaldi and Difilippo with a 2 RBI double that made the score 9-3.
Florham Park managed a run in the bottom of the 5th following 2 walks and an errant throw on a run down, but Westfield promptly shut down threat and held Florham Park scoreless the rest of the way.
Next up for Westfield is Branchburg in Union at 6:00 PM on Friday in the Central Jersey Baseball League 12U Championship game.
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