Westfield versus Cranford. The pinnacle event of the season for the Blue Devils. Both teams and fans had this matchup circled on their calendars and had highly anticipated the day the two teams could simultaneously take the field. Both rosters are stacked with impressive playmakers and college commits, each capable of changing the game with one swing or pitch. The fans Wednesday were lucky enough to experience one of the better pitching matchups seen so far this year. What amounted to an incredible performance by Westfield ended in poor fashion as the Blue Devils fell prey to the Cougars, 3-0.
Defensively, there was not much to report. Tomas Cestero took to the mound in the first inning and did not relinquish it until the seventh. In his best game of the season on the mound, Cestero dominated. He faced 27 batters, striking out 11 and letting up just 4 hits and 1 earned run. Cestero retired some of Cranford’s best hitters, including senior Shea Grady, who currently leads the team in runs, and senior Ryan Jaros, a Georgia Tech commit and the No. 1 ranked player in New Jersey. Cestero’s performance thrust his team to remain in tandem with Cranford for the entirety of the game.
“He had a very, very good outing, and it is definitely something that he can build off of,” said head coach Jay Cook. “If it were up to him and there was no pitch limit he would have finished that seventh inning off, but we are happy with the way he pitched.”
Unfortunately for the Blue Devils, Cranford pitcher Sean Woodruff also had the performance of his life, as he efficiently weaved through numerous jams in his seven scoreless innings of work. Despite not recording many strikeouts, four, Woodruff made excellent work of the Blue Devil offense, allowing few opportunities for the team to score. Only junior Randy Davis, junior Kevin Dowling and sophomore Charlie McCormack recorded a hit for the Blue Devils throughout the game. This marks Westfield’s second consecutive game without recording a single run.
With that being said, the opportunities the Blue Devils did have were great ones. Westfield’s greatest opportunity arose when Braeden Trajkovski stepped up to the plate in the second inning. Trajkovski battled through a tough at bat and took a third strike. However, Trajkovski reached first due to a dropped third strike and extreme effort to beat the throw. Dowling then stepped up to the plate and quickly lined a single over the head of the shortstop. Gaining momentum, sophomore Charlie McCormack reached first on an error, loading the bases.
The top of the order soon stepped to the plate and Cranford fans began to worry, while excitement jolted the faces of Blue Devil supporters. That was until the Westfield offense had been extinguished in a matter of what felt like seconds. Davis was taken down on strikes, and Cestero flew out to the center fielder, ending the inning. Westfield had a few other opportunities to score throughout the game but failed to convert on any presented opportunities.
After failing to take the lead and seize the few opportunities that were presented, the Blue Devils needed just one more out before they would step up in the bottom of the seventh inning with the chance to win. It was then that Cestero reached his pitching limit and would have to be pulled from the game. The team then resorted to relief pitcher Tommy Hyland.
“Tommy’s gotten a lot of big outs for us, and we were confident that he could go in there and then retire that guy and even potentially give us some length if we did go to extras,” said Cook on choosing Hyland to relieve Cestero.
Hyland came in, and the Cougars pounced on him early. Soon the Cougars were up one run, then two runs, and before they knew it Cranford took a three-run lead in the final inning. The tide had turned, and what had been a defensive stalemate became an onslaught of runs. Finally Westfield was granted its final opportunity at the plate. Quickly Woodruff retired three consecutive Blue Devils, and the game was over. What remained a close contest changed into a one-sided sprint to the finish line. Cranford remains undefeated, while Westfield dropped its second game in a row and moved to 7-5. Westfield hopes to end its two-game losing streak this Friday against New Providence, a team the Blue Devils have already previously defeated this season, 7-5.
