Westfield Loses 3-2 Heart Breaker To Bridgewater in State Finals

Westfield and Bridgewater played an outstanding baseball game tonight in the championship game of the Cal Ripken Northern NJ State tournament. Westfield led 2-0 going into the 6th inning but could not hold off a late Bridgewater rally and Westfield lost 3-2.

Westfield pitcher Vin Difilippo was superb all night, throwing 5 1/3 innings of 6 hit ball and he did not walk anyone. The Westfield defense played one of their strongest games of the year behind their starting pitcher and there were several "Blue Ball" worthy plays made in the field (The "Blue Ball" is an award for outstanding defensive effort). Nick Mele made at least 4 spectacular plays in center field on line drives and fly balls, Chris Rinaldi and Chris Boutsikaris teamed up for a back hand stab of a grounder deep in the hole at short and a scoop for the out at first, Eric Varakian made two great plays -- one diving to knock down a grounder at 2nd and the other a diving catch in right field, Michael Mobarakai and Brett Robertshaw both made very good plays at 3rd base on hard hit balls and Chris Varano made a strong play at 2nd to rob a hit in the early innings. Devin Anderson caught all 6 innings and was extremely solid behind the plate all night for the Blue Devils. Westfield flashed the leather all night and it was one of the best defensive showings of the season.

While Difilippo was holding the Bridgewater bats in check, the Bridgewater pitcher was doing the same to the Westfield bats. Nick Mele broke through in the 2nd and missed a home run by less than a foot when his line drive to left center banged very high off of the fence. Mele was stranded on the bases in the 2nd, but Westfield scored 2 runs in the 3rd to take a 2-0 lead. Michael Mobarakai reached on a fielder's choice and then Eric Varakian and Chris Rinaldi singled to load the bases. Vin Difilippo's hard grounder to short allowed Mobarakai to score and then Mele drove in Varakian with an RBI single. Westfield threatened further in the inning but they were not able to plate any additional runs.

The score remained 2-0 going into the 6th. Bridgewater led off with a single and a stolen base. The runner advanced to 3rd on a single by the next batter, but the batter was thrown out at 2nd trying to advance to 2nd on the throw home. The runner on 3rd scored on a called balk to cut the Westfield lead to 2-1. Bridgewater's clean up hitter singled and Difilippo was relieved by Chris Rinaldi. The Bridgewater hitter worked the count to 3-2 and then tomahawked a high fastball over the bag at first for an RBI double which tied the game at 2. The next batter grounded out and the go ahead run advanced to 3rd. The batter then fouled off a bunch of pitches and lined a 3-2 pitch into center field to bring the go ahead run home.

Westfield came to bat in the bottom of the 6th and took some good cuts, but they were not able to muster much offense and Bridgewater recorded the final out on a ground ball to 1st to secure the win and the state title.

Game notes...Difilippo and Mele were both 2 for 3 with an RBI.

Westfield plays their last game of the year in the finals of the Bridgewater tournament vs Flemington on Tuesday at 6:00 PM in Bridgewater.