Westfield White faced off against perennial powerhouse Branchburg in the Central Jersey Baseball League Championship game in Union on Friday night. Branchburg was undefeated in CJBL play and entered the contest with a record of 38-3, outscoring their opponents on the year by a margin of 491-118. Westfield entered the game with a record of 32-12 and on somewhat of a roll with convincing playoff victories earlier in the week against tough squads from Long Hill and Florham Park.
Westfield won the toss and decided to be the home team. They sent ace Vin Difilippo to the mound and a suberb defensive squad into the field behind him with the hopes of containing the explosive Branchburg offense. Difilippo changed location and speed often and he successfully kept the Branchburg bats from doing any damage in the 1st inning. Outfielders Scott Tupper and Hopper Murray recorded the first two outs by making nice plays on fly balls and then shortstop Chris Rinaldi made a running catch on a fly ball in short right center field for third out and Westfield kept Branchburg off the board in the 1st inning. Westfield mounted a small offensive threat in their half of the 1st when Eric Varakian reached on an error and advanced to second on a ground out by Chris Varano, but Varakian was stranded there when Branchburg recorded two consecutive outs to end the inning.
Branchburg got on the board with 2 runs in the 2nd inning courtesy of a few hits, a walk and a perfectly executed suicide squeeze bunt. Difilippo got out of the inning though with great pitching and two solid defensive plays. Left fielder Mobarakai made an unbelievable running catch on a long fly ball that was foul down the left field line. It seemed as if the ball would fall harmlessly in foul territory but Mobarakai appeared out of nowhere and snagged the ball for the 1st out of the inning. Mobarakai was awarded a Blue Ball (defensive award) on the play. With 2 runs in and runners on 2nd and 3rd, Difilippo then made some great pitches to strike out a batter for the 2nd out. 2nd baseman Chris Varano then made a great play on a slow roller to nip the batter at 1st for the final out.
Westfield got two runners on in the bottom of the 2nd inning, but they were unable to score. Devin Anderson walked and then Chris Boutsikaris crushed a 2-1 offering off of the wall in right center field but Anderson had to hold up on the play and had to stop at 2nd. Both runners were stranded there as the last out of the inning was recorded.
Branchburg scored 2 more runs in the 3rd inning on a 2 run home run by their clean up hitter. The damage may have been worse, but Westfield was able to record a double play on a hard liner to shortstop Chris Rinaldi who made the catch and fired to Boutsikaris at 1st base for the out. Westfield was unable to score in their half of the 3rd and the score remained 4-0 Brannchburg.
Rinaldi came onto relieve Difilippo to start the 4th inning and he retired Branchburg 1-2-3 with a strike out and then two ground outs. 3rd baseman Brett Robertshaw made a nice play on the 1st ground ball and 2nd baseman Eric Varano on the second grounder.
Westfield came to bat in the 4th with some energy. Lead off hitter Eric Varakian was hit by a pitch and Chris Varano followed with a single. Both runners advanced on a double steal and then Varakian scored on an RBI single by Difilippo. With runners on 1st and 3rd, Difilippo was caught off of 1st base in a run down. Varano, who was on the 3rd, alertly took off for home and scored just ahead of the throw to cut the Branchburg lead in half at 4-2. Westfield did not score again in the inning.
Westfield held Branchburg again in the 5th and the key play in the inning was a perfectly executed pickoff play at 2nd base, followed by a run down to cut down the lead runner. 3rd baseman Difilippo then made the defensive play of the game when he made a diving grab of a hard ground ball towards the hole at short and fired to 1st from his knees. Unfortunately the ump ruled the Branchburg runner safe at 1st on a very questionable call, but the play was fantastic nonetheless. The runner was stranded when the 3rd out was recorded on a pop out off of 1st base that was grabbed by Chris Boutsikaris.
Westfield threatened again in the 5th and had runners on 1st and 2nd with 1 out after Boutsikaris walked and Hopper Murray singled, but Boutsikaris was thrown out attempting to steal 3rd on a passed ball on a very close play. Replays would have shown that he was safe, but the call stood and it took some life out of the Westfield offense. Scott Tupper walked and Westfield had runners on 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs but they were not able to score.
Branchburg extended the lead to 5-2 in the 6th inning on a walk, a stolen base and a hard single up the middle. Right fielder Murray and Shortstop Nick Mele made nice plays to close out the inning and Catcher Liam Heinbokel continued his stellar play behind the plate to keep the deficit to 3 runs.
Westfield looked like they might stage one of their infamous late inning rallies when Mobarakai led off with a single, but Branchburg recorded the last three outs to secure the victory and the CJBL Championship.
It was an exciting, very well played game by two great baseball teams and it was a fitting way to close out another tremendous summer travel baseball season for the team they call Westfield White.
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