2-2 count, two men on the basepath for Westfield, the Union County Tournament on the line. The Governor Livingston pitcher wound up, dealt his pitch and with a swing and a miss, GL sealed their victory, clinching the UCT title.
A low scoring game was expected between the two rivals, as both sides had done an excellent job throughout the tournament at limiting the opposition’s run-scoring ability. Through six innings of the ballgame, that was absolutely the case.
GL’s starting pitcher held Westfield to under five hits through the first six innings, preventing any Westfield runner from even reaching third base and striking out eight batters. On the Westfield side, senior Tomas Cestero pitched through six and two-thirds innings, allowing four earned runs while striking out five batters.
It seemed to the crowd that the game would stay low scoring, but both offenses exploded in the seventh. With two outs, the Highlanders notched six runs, increasing their 4-0 lead to 10-0. However, just as it seemed all hope was lost for Westfield, they took to the plate in the bottom of the seventh. “Going down 10-0, it takes a lot of heart. Everyone put in the hard work. This team has so much passion,” Cestero said.
Senior Nic Labin walked, followed by back-to-back singles from junior Aaron Ives and senior Kevin Dowling. Sophomore Liam Sullivan found a gap in the defense and brought home Labin with the bases loaded.
A little roller to the mound off the bat of Como was mishandled by the defense, making the score 10-2. Westfield continued their streak of hits, as juniors Jake Alfano and Brady Trajkovski each singled, making the score 10-5. One thing was certain: if Westfield was to go down, they would not go down without a fight. “They never gave up and showed their grit. That’s what we expect from our players. Never settle, never back down,” head coach Jay Cook said.
Senior Randy Davis came up next, and was able to notch a sacrifice fly, bringing home the sixth Westfield run with only one man out. Senior Kellen Edwards came up next and singled through the infield. Now having batted around. Labin was hit by a pitch to load the bases again for the Blue Devils.
Ives came up again and flew out, but brought the seventh run home for Westfield. Now, they were down to their final out of the ballgame. Dowling notched his second hit of the inning, cutting the lead to two.
Unfortunately, a senior Julian Montez went down swinging, and Westfield’s heroic comeback fell short. “I love these guys so much. I knew that everyone on the team had that dog in them, had that fight in them,” Edwards said.
Westfield takes on Scotch Plains-Fanwood on Wednesday at 4 p.m. on the road.
