Articles and Pictures on CJBL PLayoffs in Leader

• July 31st edition, page 11 on the Union game
• August 7th edition, page 13 on the chamionship game
• Fred Lecomte from The Leader was kind enough to allow us to link to the pictures he took from the Union game.

Article in July 24th Edition of The Leader

There is a nice article in today's Leader on the Babe Ruth State Tournament.

Westfield Advances to State Semis with win over Hazlet

A 7 -run 4th inning keyed by patience at the plate, along with clutch pitching and solid defense added up to a 7-3 victory over Hazlet tonight for the cardiac kids from Westfield.

For the first three innings, Westfield's Chris Rinaldi kept the team in the game, allowing a run in the top of the third as Hazlet took a 1-0 lead. Rinaldi allowed only two hits and struck out 4 batters, including striking out the side in the second when he got the third batter with his fluttering knuckleball.

Westfield was not doing much at the plate the first three innings, collecting only one hit - a single by Rinaldi in the third. But they made the pitcher Tynion work hard, working deep counts and collecting 5 walks (Varakian (2), Difilippo, Boutsikaris, Varano).

In the top of the 4th Nick Mele came on to pitch for Westfield and worked out of a bases loaded, one out jam by getting a bouncer back to the mound for a force at the plate and a fly ball to left that was handled by Brett Robertshaw.

BIG BLAST BY BOUTS CAPS 7 RUN RALLY
( say that 5 times fast)

In the bottom of the 4th with one out Scott Tupper put a grounder through the right side. The Hazlet pitcher was beginning to tire and issued walks to Ethan Smith, Eric Varakian, and Chris Rinaldi, with Rinaldi's walk forcing in the tying run. Hazlet brought on a new pitcher and Vince Difilippo greeted him with a 2 run single to right to give Westfield a 3-1 lead. Nick Mele walked to once again load the bases and bring No. 5 hitter Chris Boutsikaris to the plate. Bouts hit a rocket to right center for a bases-clearing triple that gave Westfield a 6-1 lead. Bouts came in to score on a wild pitch to add another run. Devin Anderson started things up again with a single before Hazlet got out of the inning.

With one out in the 5th, Hazlet's cleanup hitter Facendo hit a long home run to left. This was followed by a walk and two singles but on the second hit, Westfield alertly got the trailing runner at third base as the lead runner scored to make it 7-3. Nick Mele then showed his toughness by striking out the next hitter to end the threat.

MR. SMITH DOES IT AGAIN!

After Westfield went quietly in the bottom of the 5th, Hazlet mounted a threat in the 6th against Scott Tupper who came on in relief. A walk, a groundout to short and a walk put runners on first and second with one out and the No 3 and 4 hitters coming up. With the possibility of the home run hitting cleanup batter representing the tying run, Scott got the 3 hitter to hit a hard grounder to third and Devin Anderson, cool as a cucumber, handled it and stepped on third for the force out.

Tupper got one up in the zone and Facendo lifted a fly to right field that looked like it might go to the wall. Then all eyes moved to see Ethan Smith back-peddling with a chance to catch it.
Mr Smith made this one a little interesting as there was some white showing in his glove, but he held on for another 6th inning catch and ended the game!

See you again Thursday night in Long Hill as Westfield returns to league play with a chance to take the lead in their division. Both squads have only 3 losses and this will be Westfield's penultimate league game and Long Hill's final regular season contest.

Westfield 10, Berkeley Heights 7

You can't double dip a chip, but it is ok to win two games on one day on the same field as long as you don't use the same pitchers.

That's what Westfield did as they completed their day with a 10-7 win over Berkeley Heights.

It was not a particularly sharp game, as Westfield benefited from 12 bases on balls issued by the Berkeley pitchers. After scoring 3 in the bottom of the second Westfield fell behind when Berkeley plated 4 runs in the top of the third on some solid hitting. The Blue Devils came back with 3 in the bottom of the third and 4 in the 4th to take a 10-4 lead. The final run in the fourth scored on a sac fly to center by Difilippo and tag up from third by Tommy Summers. (Boy that extra practice session called by Coach Rinaldi after the morning game sure paid off!)

Berkeley made it close with 3 runs in the top of the 5th, but Nick Mele closed the game with a 1-2-3 6th inning. Brett Robertshaw pitched 3 innings and Scott Tupper 2 innings before Nick came on in the 6th.

Devin Anderson continued his hot hitting, going 2 for 3 on the day, including a double. Westfield showed great patience at the plate in accepting the 12 walks, and also got singles from Difilippo, Mele, Rinaldi, Robertshaw, Varakian, and Varano. All the players reached base safely with either a hit or a walk.

It's back to Mt Olive tomorrow for the 1 PM game against Bayonne.

League Play Resumes with a Victory

After a 9 day break to participate in the districts and Cranford tournament, the Westfield White team picked up league play this morning with a workmanlike victory over Basking Ridge, 8-1.

Westfield pitching held Ridge to 2 hits on solid performances by Hopper Murray, Eric Varakian, Ethan Smith and Devin Anderson in his season debut on the mound. Meanwhile, the offense pounded out 14 hits in scoring their 8 runs.

Multiple hit games by Tommy Summers (2 for 2), Chis Varano (2 for 3), Chris Rinaldi (2 for 3), Vince Difilippo (2 for 2 with a walk and a double), and Chris Boutsikaris (2 for 3) paced the attack. Devin Anderson also had a scorcher down the third base line for a double and Nick Mele hustled out a double on a ball that dropped in right center. Scott Tupper and Eric Varakian also had hits in the game. Mele continued to drive in runs adding 4 RBI today.


The "Blue Ball Play" of the day went to Tommy Summers on a fine grab of a hot grounder at second base.

Westfield goes for the double dip this afternoon at 2 PM against Berkeley Heights at Gumpert 1.

Strong with the force, Westfield is...

Great defense, solid pitching, and aggressive baserunning added up to a 6-5 win for Westfield over Clark today. The Blue Devils completed the round robin portion of the Cranford tournament with a 4-1 record and the top seed in the playoff round. The semifinal match against Scotch Plains Gold will be played on Monday July 7.

"Always in motion, you must be...."

Westfield scratched across single runs in the first two innings helped by 6 stolen bases. Devin Anderson flashed his speed game with a walk and three stolen bases in the second. Clark countered with 3 runs in the bottom of the first and 1 in the second on several hard hit balls to take a 4-2 lead. Chris Varano had a bit of bad luck when he got hit by a pitch on the hand. The play was ruled a foul ball and Chris had to leave the game with what we hope is only a bruised hand.

In the top of the 3rd, Eric Varakian and Chris Rinaldi each walked for the second time in the game. Both came around to score on the biggest hit of the game - a triple by Vincent Difilippo.

Nick Mele reached on a walk and both runners eventually scored on stolen bases and wild throws. Clark added a run in the bottom of the 3rd to make the score 6-5 and that is where it stayed. Although Westfield was held scoreless the rest of the way, Chris Boutsikaris added a sharp single, Hopper Murray and Brett Robertshaw also singled to round out Westfield's attack.

"Help you, the defense can"

In 4 innings of work, Hopper Murray struck out four, and did not walk a batter. That was the key as he trusted his defense and they came through. In the 4th, Murray got out of the inning on 5 pitches with 3 straight hard grounders handled by Varakian at 2nd, Difilippo at 3rd, and Mele at 1st base.

"Do or do not... There is no Try"

Chris Boutsikaris came on to pitch the last two innings and pitched to the minimum 6 batters with one strikeout and no walks. The highlight was in the bottom of the sixth when the first batter hit a rocket to deep center field. Tom Summers went back and in spectacular fashion made the grab, robbing Clark of an extra base hit. ("Catch the ball, I did" Tom muttered to himself). The second out was recorded on another play from coach Rinaldi's playbook - this one number 496. That's where the second baseman (He who shall not be named) lets the grounder go through his legs and the right fielder(Ethan Smith) throws to the shortstop (Chris Rinaldi) to get the runner between first and second. Bouts struck out the last batter to seal the victory.

Saturday it is showdown time in the district semi finals against Westfield Blue. Several Westfield Blue coaches were spotted scouting us during the game. "Blind we are, if creation of this clone army we could not see"

Guest Blogger
Yoda
May the force be with you

Explosive Bats equal Big Win

In a shortened five inning game last night, Westfield fans watched as their team reached double digits in both base hits and runs scored. A total of 18 hits and 21 runs were recorded by the Blue Devils as they beat Dunellen by a score of 21-6.

The game was actually pretty tight through the first 3 innings as Dunellen scored one run the top of the first and Westfield's offense was slow to get going. Tommy Summers pitched 2 strong innings allowing just 3 hits and the 1 run. Ethan Smith helped out again defensively (remember that diving catch against SPF the other day) on a deep shot out to centerfield that he glided back on and snagged. Summers also alertly picked a Dunellen base runner off of 3rd for the final out of the 2nd inning.

The game was quiet until the bottom of the 2nd when Brett Robertshaw started things with a double to left. Chris Boutsikaris followed with an RBI triple and scored on a Dunellen error. Chris Rinaldi added a single to left center, and stole 2nd, 3rd and home making the score 3-1 in favor of Westfield after 2 innings. Dunellen came right back in the 3rd adding 5 runs on a combination of hits and walks. Eric Varakian was brought in to pitch with the base loaded and shut down the scoring threat by striking out 2 of the next 3 batters. He kept Dunellen scoreless in the fourth allowing just 1 hit and striking out 2 more batters.

Westfield's offense got in gear starting in the third. Summers reached base on a Dunellen error, Scott Tupper singled to center, and Ethan Smith and Hopper Murray each hit RBI singles. Devin Anderson beat out an infield hit to short (RBI) and Brett Robertshaw added an RBI with a fielders choice groundout to short. The fourth inning saw the offense really take off scoring a total of 10 runs. Varakian led off getting hit by a pitch, Rinaldi singled to left , Nick Mele blasted a RBI double to right center, and Summers and Tupper walked to load the bases. Ethan Smith was hit by a pitch, Hopper Murray singled, Chris Varano walked and Devin Anderson hit a single to left that scored 2 more runs. Brett Robertshaw added an infield single and Chris Boutsikaris launched a triple (his 2nd of the game) out to right center that cleared the bases.

Ethan Smith pitch a scoreless fifth and recorded 1 strikeout. Westfield came back to the plate and continued where they left off. Vin Difilippo and Nick Mele started things with singles and Summers was hit by a pitch. Ethan Smith added a 2 RBI hit to right, Hopper Murray walked and Devin Anderson added his 3rd hit of the night, sending 2 more runners across the plate. (Anderson finished the night with 5 RBIs.) At this point, Westfield was leading by 15 runs and the game was stopped.

Westfield is scheduled to play in the Cranford Tournament at 1:30 today. Let's hope the rain holds up.

Article in July 3rd Edition of The Leader

There is a nice article in today's Leader on last Saturday's game against Scotch Plains Blue.