The two Westfield 11U travel teams came together for an exciting game of baseball on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. Westfield Blue recorded the final out of the game at the plate on the potential tying run to preserve a 8-7 victory.
White jumped out to an early 1-0 lead when Eric Varakian came around score in the bottom of the 1st. Varakian and Vin Difilippo singled and stole a base putting runners on 2nd and 3rd. With 2 outs, Chris Boutsikaris laced an RBI single up the middle which scored Varakian, but Difilippo was thrown out at the plate with a great throw by Rowan Oberman. George Murray caught the throw and made a difficult play to end the scoring threat as he hung on as Difilippo barreled into him.
Westfield White added 3 more runs in the 2nd inning to take a 4-0 lead. Brett Robertshaw singled and Hopper "The Hawk" Murray came to the plate facing his cousin, Owen. Hopper locked in after a brief smile and he promptly blasted a fastball over the left field fence for a 2 run homer. Scott Tupper then reached base, stole 2nd and came around to score on Varakian's second hit of the game.
Westfield Blue inflicted some serious damage in the 3rd inning by scoring 6 runs -- all with 2 outs. After recording a couple of outs and with no one on base, the rally started with a walk, a single and another walk. Blue bats then exploded for 4 consecutive hits to produce the runs and to take a 6-4 lead.
White added 1 more in their half of the 3rd to close the gap to 6-5 when Devin Anderson singled, stole 2nd and came around to score on an RBI single by Chris "Mariano" Varano. Blue added an unearned run in the top of the 4th to make it 7-5. White immediately responded with a run of their own in the bottom of the 4th to close again within one run when Scott Tupper came around to score on a Varakian sac fly.
The score stayed that way until Blue added another run in the 6th. White did not quit and rallied in the bottom of the 6th to make it very interesting. Chris Boutsikaris singled and came around to score on a Hopper Murray single to make it 8-7. Murray then stole his way to 3rd base to get into great scoring position. With 2 outs, Hopper attempted to score and tie the game on a passed ball, but he was ruled out at the plate on a very close call at the plate. He executed the play just as instructed, but it did not work out and Blue held on for the win. It was a great game by two very strong Westfield teams.
Notes...Varakian, Boutsikaris and Hopper Murray (HR) each had 2 hits for Westfield White. Murray and Brett Robertshaw each threw 3 strong innings on the mound. Varakian made a great stab of a line drive at 2nd base to rob a hit up the middle. The game almost didn't happen when umpires did not show up, however Andy Lankler and Chris Robertshaw saved the day by going from fans to umps and they did a great job. A big thanks to both of them.
Westfield White plays next in the North Edison tournament on Monday night against a team from Hillsborough. The game is scheduled for a 6 PM start in North Edison.
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