Governor Livingston came out in the first inning firing. Catching Westfield off-guard, GL managed to get three runs on the board during their first at-bat. Westfield’s defense during the first inning was sloppy and they had several errors allowing runs to score. Tri-captain Aaron Ives said, “We didn’t show up to play, even from the first inning we had several errors in the field. We got outplayed in every category.” This theme would continue for the next five innings, ending in a 12-0 mercy.
Heading into the bottom of the first inning, Westfield was unable to produce any runs. The Blue Devils first three hitters were able to get on base, but the team could not capitalize on these opportunities. Throughout the last few games, Westfield has seen this situation often, stranding multiple runners on base.
The Blue Devils tallied only two hits compared to the Highlanders’ seven. Despite the struggle on offense, head coach Jay Cook said, “It all starts with defense for us.” Unfortunately for Westfield, this rivalry game did not live up to the standards as neither offense or defense worked well. Cook said, “We didn’t play a single aspect of baseball well today.”
Governor Livingston’s defense was able to keep Westfield off of the scoreboard. Senior GL pitcher Matty Diskin threw a shutout with four strikeouts. Diskin also contributed offensively, getting one hit and scoring a run for the Highlanders. Junior shortstop Zach Geertsma added four RBIs.
After the second inning, both Westfield and GL were unable to score. With an improved defense from the Blue Devils and a solid performance from Diskin, the score remained 4-0 until the fifth inning.
However, the fifth inning was unlucky for the Blue Devils. Westfield’s pitching began to fall apart and GL was able to capitalize on every pitch, scoring 8 runs. Senior Braedan Trajkovski said, “We showed up and weren’t ready to compete. The first game we played [against GL] was close, ending 7-8. Today we didn’t have a lot of pride and everyone was a little too comfortable, including myself, and I think we just need to play harder together as a team.”
Cook said, “We need to find some intrinsic motivation to get after it and compete better.” After this tough loss, the Blue Devils will travel to face St. Benedict’s Prep on May 1 away. Ives said, “We need to work on the fundamentals, like defense or clutch hitting. But overall, I think we have to throw this out the window and start fresh.”
