2nd Tourney win for Westfield White

Westfield White played a rematch with Long hill this morning in their 2nd game of the Cranford Tournament. This time Westfield came out on top with a score of 7 -1. Westfield played like the team of old, displaying strong pitching, tough defense and aggressive batting.

Starting pitcher Nick Mele held Long hill at bay through 3 innings allowing no hits, no runs and striking out 4. Chris Rinaldi came in for the next 2 innings and continued the pitching dominance. After pitching a 1-2-3 fourth, he came back out to the mound in the fifth and struck out the side. He also recorded 4 strikeouts and allowed no hits and no runs. Chris Varano came out in the sixth to close out the game.

Adding to the strong pitching were a couple of heads up defensive plays. In the top of the third, after the lead off batter made a wide turn at 1st, Nick Mele alertly threw to 1st baseman Chris Bouts who charged at the base runner and got him caught in a run down between 1st and 2nd. Chris Rinaldi moved in from short to cover 2nd base and took the throw from Bouts before chasing the runner back towards 1st and tagging him out. In the top of the sixth, the final out of the game came on a throw from rightfielder Varakian to Rinaldi at short to Difilippo at home to nail a runner trying to score.

Offensively, the team was able to register 13 hits --- 4 of them doubles. Brett Robertshaw led off the 2nd with an infield single to 3rd. Hopper Murray followed with one of his two doubles, scoring Robertshaw. Tommy Summers laid down a perfect sac bunt which moved Hopper to 3rd. With 2 outs, Eric Varakian singled to left, Chris Rinaldi got an infield hit to 2nd and Vin Difilippo launched a double to right. When the inning was over, Westfield held a 4-0 lead and never looked back. They added 1 more in the 3rd and 2 in the 4th to finish out their scoring.

Hopper Murray continued his hot hitting going 3 for 3 with 2 doubles and 2 RBIs. Vin Difilippo was also 3 for 3 today with 1 double and 1 run scored. Chris Rinaldi added 2 hits with 1 RBI and 2 runs scored.

If the weather holds up, the team will play the Westfield Blue team today at 5 pm.