Crosstown Friends Slug It Out

In Westfield's version of the subway series, electricity was in the air both figuratively and literally as Westfield White came away with a 7-5 victory over Westfield Blue Sunday night. Chris Rinaldi (2 triples,a single and 3 RBIs) and Brett Robertshaw (single, double, 2 RBIs) paced the offense.

The game was delayed while we waited for the thunder and lightning to clear out of the area. Once play resumed, Westfield Blue was first to strike as a double by Owen Murray scored Rowan Oberman for a 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the first Eric Varakian led off with a walk and came around to score on Rinaldi's first triple - a shot to left center.

The score remained tied until the 3rd inning when the potent offenses of each team came to life. Wesfield Blue scored 3 times in the top of the inning on a double by Justin Lin, single by Owen Brancatella, and back to back doubles by Justin Lankler and Tyler Roth. In the bottom of the 3rd Westfield White answered Blue's thunder with some lightning of their own as Chris Rinaldi followed walks to Chris Varano and Eric Varakian with his second triple of the game, this one to right center. Both runners scored on the hit. Vince Difilippo singled scoring Rinaldi and Nick Mele doubled to put runners at 2nd and 3rd. Brett Robertshaw's clutch 2-out single brought in 2 more runs to make the score 6-4.

In the 4th with one out and a runner at 2nd, Scott Tupper caught a deep fly to center and nailed the runner at 3rd with his throw to third baseman Vince Difilippo to end the inning without any scoring. Westfield Blue scored one run in the 5th to make it 6-5.

In the bottom of the 5th Westfield White answered with a run on singles by Varakian and Rinaldi and a sac fly by Nick Mele.

Chris Rinaldi came in to nail down the victory in the 6th with the score 7-5. Chris Boutsikaris made a diving catch of a foul ball off a tree which would have been an out if we were playing wiffle ball. But alas, this is hardball and unless your playing in the Tropicana dome, you cannot catch balls that bounce off stuff. Hopper Murray followed with a great sliding catch in right field for the 2nd out of the inning. The game ended with a runner on second when shortstop Nick Mele charged a grounder and fired to Chris Bouts who stretched to nail the runner.

Next on the schedule is Plainfield at 6pm Tuesday night at Tamaques.