Westfield Blue hands defeat to Branchburg 11-10

The summer is in full swing as is the league play of the Westfield
Blue travel baseball team. On a hot afternoon, they traveled on
the road to play the yet undefeated Branchburg team, the same team
that Westfield Blue lost to in last year's finals. With a sense of
revenge in mind, the Westfield Blue boys had a quick start
offensively. In the first inning, Colwell reached base after 2 outs
thanks to good defensive plays of Branchburg. Murray then drew a
walk, Hess hit a two RBI double, and the Westfield Blue lead 2-1
after one inning. After a scoreless 2nd, the Westfield Blue had an
explosion in the 3rd, swinging their bats well. Roth reached first, Oberman drew
a walk, and Colwell hit a double scoring Roth. After Oberman stole
home on a wild pitch upping the score to 4-1, Murray also drew a
walk. Colwell and Murray each stole a base, and Hess then hit his 2nd
two RBI double. But the Westfield Blue was not done, Lin would add
one more score after reaching base, and Stern tagged on another run
on a hit by Loughlin. After held scoreless in the 4th, Hess led off
in the 5th reaching base on a walk. Devanney Murray hit a line drive
to the middle for a double. After Hess stole home, Lin hit a
fly ball to right field scoring Murray who came on as the pinch
runner, which turned out to be the winning run of the game.

Defensively, the Westfield outfielders, Loughlin, Murray,
Brancatella, Criscuolo and Lankier had a great day catching hard hit
fly balls, which were keys in the game to stop the high powered
offense of Branchburg. The pitching was handled by Murray, and Roth,
Lin and Oberman. Murray's fast ball was very effective limiting
Branchburg to one score after two innings. Roth, Lin and Oberman all
pitched well in relief. A scare happened in the 5th when Lin was hit
by a ground-ball. When asked by coach Murray, he said that he was hit
at his funny bone near his knee. But he was fine after Oberman
relieved him, who then held the opponent scoreless in the sixth
inning preserving a much needed win against the league leading
Branchburg team.

Recap by L. Lin