At the conclusion of regular season play, Westfield Blue came in first place out of 12 teams in the North Jersey All Star League with a final league record of 11-3-1. Congratulations Blue!
OB -my final offer is the BIG trophy for your little one and the Mickey Mantle rookie card
July 20, 2009 (Better late than never)
WB defeated a solid Clark team 9 to 5 at Gumbert 2 Monday night.
It didn't start off well for WB; Clark's leadoff batter Santos jacked a double off the left field fence. Fortunately, solid pitching by Parker held them scoreless in the first.
WB's offense then came alive in the bottom of the first, plating 6 runs with a combination of hits, walks and smart base running . Although WB scored another 3 runs in later innings the first 6 runs were enough to secure the win as solid all around defense and excellent pitching by Parker and Owen Murray held Clark to just 5 runs.
The 1st Inning Rally
Rowan
Steven
Parker
Justin Lin
Daniel
Some of the WB defense
George makes the play at the plate
Rowan in CF
WB had the hits but no runs
Rowan
OB
MJ hustles
Tyler's longest single ever
Parker
Justin Lin
Daniel
Tyler fires to first after a great stop at SS
Rowan stretches to just beat the runner for the out
Our Fans love us (and ice cream)
Westfield Blue topped the Ridge Nationals Sunday night in a 12-5 win that saw some great starter pitching by Tyler Roth and the strong return of Justin Lin, who closed out the game for Blue and helped seal the victory.
After a tough game against Cranford, the Westfield Blue team re-grouped, put the pieces together and played a relatively clean game against Ridge…combining strong hitting and smart base running with solid pitching.
Tyler pitched four strong innings, giving up only a few scattered hits and relatively few walks. Over the course of the game, Ridge managed to piece together a total of five runs, but Westfield dominated by picking up runs six runs in the first and one or two more nearly every inning after.
Owen Colwell’s bat was hot, hot, hot as he continued his streak of hitting doubles, knocking in runs and scoring. Besides pitching, Tyler delivered a number of spectacular plays in the field, and Rowan Oberman continue his season-long streak of big hits in clutch situations….or basically getting a hit whenever he gets to bat :-)
George had a strong 2-run single in the first, and together with Owen Colwell and Tyler executed a very clean run-down of a player on third for an out.
Owen Murray scorched a ball to short that drove in a run and really most of the Westfield Blue line-up got the bat on the ball to keep Westfield in the game.
Justin Lin returned to the mound for the last two innings of the game, delivering a solid closing performance to the delight of his many fans.
After the game, the team credited the wonderful smorgasbord prepared by team mothers (and dads) between the games for their victory. “Feeding us,” they said, “is key to our success.”
The team returns to the field Monday night for a league game against the Clark Bombers.
Game Recap by Audrey Murray
The big first inning for WB
Tyler starts it off
Rowan
Steven
George
OC
Justin Lin
Tyler makes a great play at SS
Sunday, July 19 – Sometimes things are just not right from the start. Westfield was the “away” team playing on their home field. The game started with the bases at the wrong distance, causing an almost surreal delay after the very first batter reached on a walk and then stole to a short second base. Playing a make-up game against Cranford on a picture perfect summer Sunday afternoon, Westfield just couldn’t seem to find their stride.
Westfield got two quick runs in the first on Tyler Roth’s walk, Rowan Oberman’s hit up the middle and Owen Colwell’s rope to left center. But Cranford came back with 6 runs in their half of the inning.
Westfield bounced back with one in the second inning, and held their opponent scoreless in the bottom half. In the third, Roth made a “Jeteresq” throw from deep in the hole at short to cut Cranford’s rally short and keep the score at 7-3.
In the Westfield 4th, Owen Murray somehow survived a run-down, and scored on Justin Lankler’s home run to center capping a three run 4th inning and cutting Cranford’s lead to 7-6. After holding Cranford to no runs in the 4th with solid relief pitching from Owen Murray, Westfield’s hopes were high going into the 5th inning.
But the offense sputtered, and Cranford added three runs in the bottom of the 5th to put out the last spark of hope for a Westfield victory. The game ended with Cranford ahead, 10-7.
Game Recap by Joe Barmakian
Rowan knocks in Tyler
OC drives in Rowan
Lankler 3 run HR
OC makes a great catch in CF
Lankler stops a bullet at 2B
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
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?
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
