On a breezy summer night, Westfield Blue resumed its league play and welcomed home the New Providence team. During warm-up, Coach Murray asked the kids to improve their defensive play. The kids responded. In the 3rd inning, 2nd baseman Criscuolo picked up a ground ball, and alertly tagged out a runner to 2nd for the first out. After a strikeout, Criscuolo picked up another hard hit grounder and threw out the runner at 1st resulting in the 3rd out of the inning. In the 4th inning, Criscuolo caught a fast flying ball for the first out of the inning. In this inning, Coach Murray was also at his best when he successfully appealed for missing 2nd base after a New Providence player hit a long fly ball to center field, thus thawing a rally by New Providence. Lin and Colwell also contributed to several good defensive plays. The best of the night happened in the 6th inning, when catcher Stern fielded a ball and fired a bullet to short stop Roth to pick off a Providence player on 2nd that led to the 2nd out of the inning. Will's good play earned him one of two game balls of the night.
The pitching duty was handled by Colwell and Murray. Colwell got in the groove after two walks at the beginning of the game striking out 2 in the first, 3 in the 2nd, and one in the 3rd. O. Murray took over in the 4th and displayed good control striking out 1 in the 4th, and 2 in the 5th. The biggest strike of the night came at the top of 6th inning. With two outs, the leadoff hitter of New Providence came to the plate. After a 2-2 count, Murray threw a fastball striking out the last New Providence batter and preserving a 5-5 tie score.
The New Providence pitchers came to play and the Westfield offense had a hard time sustaining a rally. At the bottom of first inning, Oberman reached first after a hit to left field. After two stolen bases, a hard hit ground ball by Hess sent Oberman home with his first RBI of the night. In the 2nd inning, Lin hit a hard grounder passing the first baseman resulting in a double. After stealing to 3rd, Stern hit a line drive to center field sending Lin home for the 2nd score of the game. In the 3rd inning, Roth hit a line drive double to center field and he then stole 3rd. A sacrifice by Oberman scored Roth which tied the score at 3-3. In the 4th inning, Murray hit a double, followed by another double by Hess scoring Murray. Hess alertly stole home resulting in another score tying the game at 5-5.
After a scoreless 5th inning, and holding New Providence for no score at the top of 6th, Westfield Blue was ready to take the game. Oberman led off with a single. Colwell hit a grounder and beat the throw to reach first. After Oberman and Colwell each stole a base, New Providence decided to intentionally walk Murray only to find a charged-up Hess at the plate. After talking to Coach Murray briefly, a confident Hess knew exactly what to do. A grounder to the middle resulted in the winning run of the game, sending the team and the crowd into standing ovation. What a beautiful evening for another thrilling game!
Game Recap by Linus Lin
Parker, Rowan, Owen C & OB share their thoughts on the game
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