It was the bottom of the seventh inning and the Blue Devils were looking to complete a five-run comeback to tie the game. They went on to score four runs, but despite the push for a comeback, they came up just short.
The start of the game was slow for the Blue Devils. Cranford jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the top of the first, putting pressure on the Blue Devils. Cranford, a big rival, was coming off a two-game win streak and looking to carry the momentum.
Despite the early jump for Cranford, junior Dylan Esposito, Westfield’s pitcher, settled in and kept the game 3-0 going into the fourth inning.
Cranford continuously got their runners in scoring position and Westfield’s costly fielding error only bridged the gap between the two teams bringing the fourth inning to a 5-1 lead for the Cougars. Senior co-captain Natalie Ardente said, “There’s definitely room for improvement. I think the energy was there, but we were kind of just playing a little nervously and a little too loosely, so that’s something that we need to improve on.”
Westfield struggled defensively on the day. Head coach Caitlin Cheddar said, “We kind of gave them maybe seven runs today, so I’d like all those back.”
Regardless of this setback for the Blue Devils, the bats finally came alive in the bottom of the fifth inning. Westfield scored three runs to cut the deficit to one.
Momentum shifted and the sixth inning was a back-and-forth battle, with both teams dominating offensively. Each team scored three runs and heading into the seventh inning, Cranford led 8-7.
Due to a few fielding mistakes by the Blue Devils in the seventh inning, they conceded four more runs to Cranford. However, Westfield rallied to make a comeback scoring four runs and applying pressure on Cranford’s pitcher.
With two outs and the tying runner on third, Westfield had a chance, but the batter grounded out, ending the game 12-11 Cranford.
