Blue tops Warren 11-10

Friday July 17, 2009

It was a balmy buggy Friday evening in Warren but Westfield Blue battled it out to hold onto their lead and win the game 11-10 in the bottom of the sixth.

Westfield took the lead 4-0 in the top of the first inning taking advantage of a handful of walks with aggressive stealing and a nice single by Parker Hess. Justin Lin came off the DL and landed a double with a beautiful rip to left field. OC and Daniel C. also had nice hits to LF but the Warren fielder wasn’t going to let it happen again and ended the inning with two nice catches. Warren came on strong against our returning pitcher Justin Lin. They came to the plate ready to hit and they succeeded-some doubles, a triple and even a home run. Justin had two strike outs and Rowan caught a pop up. Warren took the lead 5-4.

Top of the second inning and MJ got on base with a walk. With two outs Tyler rips one to RF and brings MJ home to tie the score. Unfortunately, the top of the inning ends quickly with another pop up caught by Warren. Rowan took the mound but Westfield had a tough time against more “spitrockets” by Warren. The score leaped to 9-5 and ended when a Warren player illegally slid into third base head first.

Top three-Westfield rocks and ties the score 9-9. Steven, Parker, George and Justin Lin all contributed to the come back with strong singles. OC got a double with a hit to LF and Daniel had a RBI. The bottom of the inning went quickly with an awesome catch at the mound by Oberman, a nice pop up catch by Daniel and another sweet play by Roth to the first baseman. Score remains 9-9.

The top of the fourth inning began with a walk for OB and continued with an RBI for MJ after a big hit to CF. Westfield took the lead 10-9 but despite some valiant efforts ended with bomber boy’s hit to CF getting caught. The bottom of the fourth- 1-2-3 with some excellent pitching by Parker Hess and fielding by Westfield Blue.

Warren tied up the game in the fifth. Parker continued to do well on the mound but discussion in the stands focused on whether the first out by Westfield was called a pickle or a run down.

Top of the sixth and the score is tied 10-10. Rally caps are on!!! Daniel and Lankler try their best but two outs. Pitcher gets a little run down and walks OB, MJ and Roth. Rowan true to form hits a solid grounder to LF and brings OB home. 11-10. But wait, bomber boy is up and bases are loaded. Yes, he rips one to center field BUT NO-gets caught. Hess takes the mound. First batter hits a grounder to Barmakian at third who makes the play to Rowan at first-OUT #1. Second batter hits the ball towards left field but Tyler Roth makes the “OMG” catch of the day for OUT #2. [See ESPN highlights!] Third batter hits a grounder to Rowan who tags first base for the win!!! Way to hold on to the victory Westfield Blue!


Game Recap by Beth Lankler

The Pickle / Run-Down

Parker overpowers a Warren batter

Rowan knocks in the 11th run

Omurr does his Michael Jackson imitation

Additional Images from 7/12 North Edison & Warren Games

Warren Game










Photos by Beth Lankler

WF Blue's solid effort ends in a tie with S. Orange after 9 innings

Despite the overflowing garbage cans, the "creek" that swallowed a dozen new baseballs and the artificial turf mound (that needed to be brushed every other inning) Westfield Blue remained focused and once again proved that they could compete at a high level against anyone.

Following a quiet 1st at bat for S. Orange, Steven B. continued his 3 game homerun hitting streak, by "going yard" over the right field fence in the 1st inning for W Blue.

Westfield continued to get solid pitching performances from Rowan Oberman, Tyler Roth and Owen Murray, held together by George Murray and MJ behind the plate.

South Orange put 3 on the board in the second inning and 1 in the forth. They were then silenced until the 8th inning when they scrapped to produce a single run.

W Blue scored in the second inning when O. Murray was driven in by a hard hit grounder by Dan Crisuolo.
Owen B. lead off the 3rd inning with a line drive single to left field M J reached on a fielders choice and was stranded following 2 ground outs as S Orange pitchers continued to keep WB hitters off balance.

W Blue was able to score in the bottom of the sixth to make it a 4-4 game and send it into extra innings.

The 8th and 9th innings were filled with some questionable calls but highlighted by some outstanding defensive gems from Parker Hess, O. Colwell and R. Oberman

Game Recap by Bob Brancatella

Steven puts WB on the board with this HR blast

OMurr rips one up the middle

Daniel listens to his Mom and racks up an RBI

Rowan singles to left in the 9th

OC shows an example of the great WB defense

Parker hustles and Rowan scoops to get the out

How come we don't have a mound "butler" in Westfield?

Blue beats Warren 5-1

7/12 Westfield NJ 77 Sunny
Warren vs Westfield Blue

A perfect night for baseball .. and W.B. bounces back in usual fashion with a solid 5-1 win over a scrappy Warren team.

Owen M. and Parker H. pitched 3 innings apiece throwing strikes and keeping the Warren batters off stride. Solid defense by all 11 W.B. players made the difference in this game. Top 1st Steve. B. made a nice catch in center doubling up the runner at first to end the inning. W.B got on the board in the bottom 1st with a solo blast by Steve B. Warren picked up its only run in the top 2nd with a couple of hits. Justin Lankler and Owen B. both had nice catches in the top of 3rd stranding the Warren runners at 2nd and 3rd.

W.B. opened up the game in the bottom of the 3rd with hits from O.B., Tyler R., Rowan O. And Steven B. scoring 3 runs to make the score 4-1 through 3. Another fine catch in center by Owen M. in the top 4th ended the inning leaving the bases Loaded with Warren scoring no runs. Owen C. led off the bottom 4th with a walk and proceeded to steal second. Dan C. hit a line drive single to knock in Colwell giving Westfield a 5-1 lead. The 5/6 innings were marked with good defensive play by all players to secure the victory.

Another quality win for W.B. show cased by great defense and solid pitching.

Next up .. South Orange .. Tues night under the lights.

Game Recap by John Colwell

Steven to Rowan DP

Steven HR

OB single

Tyler single

Steven RBI

Daniel RBI

WF Blue drops one to N. Edison 5-2

7/2 North Edison .. 82 Sunny
Westfield Blue vs. North Edison
Game 4 North Edison Tourney

Westfield Blues bats were very quiet through the 1st 4 innings. The N.E. pitcher retired the 1st 12 batters he faced. Justin Lankler pitched for W.B. and pitched very well recording 4 k's in 3 innings. Justin worked out of 2 jams with a nice diving catch by Rowen O. and a solid play by Michael J. hanging on to foul tip strike out.

N.E. HUNG onto a 5-zip lead into the top of the 5th when Rowen O. led off the top of the inning with a single followed up by Steven B. hitting a 2 run blast to narrow the margin to 5-2. Steve B. pitched 3 innings holding N.E.to 1 run. George M. had a dandy play chasing down a wild pitch and tagging out a runner trying to score from
3rd. Owen C. led off the top 6th with a walk .. Moving to second on fielders choice. The rally faded after that sending W.B. to a 5-2 defeat.

Next up .. Warren ….. In about 90 minutes.

Game Recap by John Colwell

Lankler nails the corner for strike 3

Barmakian fires a fastball

Oberman breaks the no hitter

Barmakian crushes HR over the RF wall

Westfield Blue Silences “Boro” Bombers With A 4-2 Victory

In their third game of the North Edison Tournament, Westfield Blue was up against the always tough Bombers of Hillsborough. With the Saturday afternoon sun high and the rest of the baseball complex quiet, Westfield took the field against a fundamentally sound Bomber squad. Tyler took the mound and got Blue off to a fast start with a 1, 2, 3 top half of the first. Tyler then led off the bottom of the first inning with a single and Rowan followed with a walk. With one out Parker beat out an infield hit, loading the bases for George. George smashed a hit deep and just inside the right field foul line clearing the bases and giving Blue a 3-0 lead going into the second inning.

The highlights for Westfield in the second inning included Owen C. snagging a sharply hit line-drive and robbing a Hillsborough batter of a base hit, Tyler’s solid pitching, and, in the bottom half of the second, Daniel ripped a single.

Boro’s bats started to rumble in the third inning and after four hits quickly got within a run of Blue. If not for the outstanding play of Owen Murray in centerfield charging a ball and quickly hitting his cut-off man (Tyler), who in-turn threw it to Owen C. at third base where he slapped a tag on an overly aggressive Bomber runner Hillsborough may have scored several more runs in the inning. M.J. led off the bottom of the third with a line drive single to left, Rowan followed with a walk, but that was all of the offense Westfield could muster. Westfield headed to the fourth inning with a 3-2 lead and gave the ball to their tricky southpaw, Rowan. Rowan’s battery mate would be Parker, who did a fine job catching with George hampered by a sore elbow and Coach Mike giving M.J. a rest from behind the plate.

Two Boro batters reached base in the fourth but Rowan’s precision pitching and strong outfield play by Justin Lankler and Owen M. held the score at 3-2. In the bottom of the fourth inning Owen Murray singled, stole second and eventually scored on an RBI single by Justin Lin. So, with two innings to go Blue was up 4-2.

Rowan continued to master the Hillsborough batters in the fifth inning with strong defensive plays by Steven and Owen M. In the bottom half of the fifth Justin Lankler hit a long fly out, which sparked the bats of M.J., Tyler and Rowan, each of whom singled. Despite loading the bases Westfield could not add another run and went into the last inning with a slim 2-run lead.

In the top of the sixth Boro sent up some of its strongest hitters but good defensive plays by Owen B., Daniel and Owen M. dashed the comeback hopes of the Bombers.

In what was a quality, well played game by both teams Westfield Blue prevailed 4-2 and will move on into the tournament playoffs. Coach Mike awarded game balls to both Tyler and Rowan for their excellent pitching efforts.

Game Recap by Scott Jeffery

First inning Rally

Tyler Single (and good view of Mr. Roth's back)

Parker Hustles out IF hit

George launches one to RF for 3 RBI

Daniel single in 2nd inning

MJ single in 3rd inning

MJ single in 5th inning

Tyler single in 5th inning

Rowan single in 5th inning to load bases