After a clean first inning on the mound by Kevin Dowling, Westfield stepped up to the plate looking to jump ahead and take an early first-inning lead. This was territory that the Blue Devils had, thus far, rarely ventured into, and on Wednesday it would dictate the rest of the game.
Leading off for the Blue Devils was junior Randy Davis. Davis, known for taking long at-bats, jumped on one of the first pitches he saw and rocketed the ball toward the left-field fence for a lead-off double. From that moment forward the offense was awakened. Leo Mangiamele walked, and, before fans could blink, Owen Callahan was stepping up to the plate with two runners in scoring position.
The team’s RBI leader last season, Callahan stepped into familiar footing, ripping the ball down the third-base line and bringing in the game’s first run, but not the last, as the Blue Devils went on to defeat Arthur L. Johnson, 5-3, advancing to the Union County Tournament semifinals.
Westfield previously defeated ALJ this year, 9-8. In their first matchup, the Blue Devils pulled off an incredible 7-run comeback. Not recording a run until the fourth inning, victory seemed hopeless, but Westfield clawed its way back in what would be its fifth win in a six-game win streak. The game was capped by a walk-off hit from sophomore Braeden Trajkovski, the current team leader in a plethora of statistics, including RBIs, slugging percentage, hits, and batting average of players with at least 20 at-bats.
Similar to that first meeting, ALJ competed against both Westfield and itself. In Wednesday’s game the Crusaders made 2 costly errors that both allowed runs to score. In its last matchup ALJ committed 5 errors.
Dowling pitched a no-hitter going into the seventh and ultimately allowed only 1 hit and 6 walks. Dowling finished the day with 6.1 innings pitched, 1 hit, 3 earned runs, 6 strikeouts and 6 walks. Dowling’s immaculate game was highlighted by an immaculate play when two men were on base after walking and there was only one out. Head coach Jay Cook spoke to Dowling and, immediately after, a pitch was lined to senior co-captain Leo Mangiamele at third base, then thrown to second, and quickly the inning ended thanks to an incredible double play.
“Cook came out there, it was just like ‘settle down,’” said Dowling. “First pitch out of that third strike, they put it in play and we got a great play there. Doubled them up, got the [out]. Ending was huge.”
“We got very good arms,” said Cook. “We got guys who [compete]. They don’t want to give up a run, they’re really competitive with each other and they all try to throw out those zeros.”
It was in the seventh inning that Dowling’s incredible game came to an end and reliever Pat Lanza was brought to the mound. Lanza, who has yet to allow an earned run this year, came in and brought about ALJ’s final two outs. Once again the Blue Devils demonstrated depth in the bullpen with skilled relief as well as starting pitching.
Westfield next faces Scotch Plains-Fanwood at home, Thursday, for senior day. The team, though, looks forward to Saturday, where it will once again face Cranford, this time in the UCT semifinals. In their last matchup the Cougars barely squeezed out the win, scoring the game’s only 3 runs in the final inning. Tomas Cestero will most likely take the mound due to his 11 strikeouts against the Cougars a couple of weeks ago.
“I think we’ll have a better outcome,” said Cook.
