For most WHS students, spring break means rest and relaxation; a period of ease and relief away from the pressures of school and extracurricular activities. However, for the Blue Devil baseball team, it means quite the opposite. Facing their county rival, the Cranford Cougars, twice this week, the team traded in downtime for pressure to prove themselves. However, in the first matchup against the Cougars this week, the Blue Devils fell short, losing 5-2.
With the 2026 season comes a new structure for NJ high school baseball. Teams will now play conference opponents twice in one week, rather than spacing it out across their schedule, preventing a team from pitching their ace in both games. Head coach Jay Cook said, “With the new conference schedule, [the goal is] to win the first of the two games, because we’ll see them again on Thursday.” He added, “It will add a little bit more continuity between everybody, because now you can’t just save your ace for certain teams and you have to see who the deeper team is.”
The Cougar offense came out hot from the beginning, earning three runs in the first three innings. Westfield was able to compete early on, tying the game in the bottom of the first, but did not score again until the bottom of the seventh. At the top of the fifth, Westfield changed pitchers from sophomore Jack Doherty to junior Pete Cabrales. Cook said, “We didn’t get many timely hits with runners on. We left too many guys on base, and we really have to work on executing with guys in scoring position.”
Sophomore Owen O’Connor was an asset for the Blue Devils as he had three hits and an RBI to help senior Alex Lawrence score. But that was the extent of the team’s success. Lawrence said, “I think the energy was good today. Everyone was cheering one another on. I think our pitchers, late in the game, did a good job at throwing strikes and controlling the zone. I think we need to improve our approaches at the plate and have better at-bats, and we should be all right. ”
The Blue Devils look to bounce back against the Cougars at 11 a.m. on Thursday at Memorial Field. “We know what they like to do,” Lawrence explained. “They like to play a lot of small ball, steal bases and bunt. I think tomorrow [at practice], we’ll work on bunt coverages and just really make sure the focus is on the little things, and not making small mistakes that’ll lead to runs for them.”
O’Connor agreed, saying that the team needs to prepare for their bunts and pitch to the lineup from their weaknesses now. “We need to come out with more energy and just be more ready to play.”
