Written by Whitney Bremer
Even after the lightning delay, there was electricity in the air on Wednesday as Westfield White took the field in its inaugural home game of the season. In a battle against Berkeley Heights, Westfield ultimately treated fans to the first shutout of the year.
In the first inning, with DiFilippo on the mound, the visitors threatened with men on base but failed to score. Westfield’s first at-bat was marked by a solid triple by Barmakian, but the inning yielded no runs.
In the second inning, Westfield’s ironclad defense was highlighted by the first double-play of the evening: DiFilippo snagged a line drive and whipped it to Mele at third, who in turn made a long throw to Boutsikaris, who made an impressive vertical leap to complete the play. Westfield White got its first run of the game in the bottom of the second, with two outs and two strikes, when Anderson singled to left and was ultimately brought home by Mele’s line drive triple past the center fielder.
Berkeley Heights’ third at-bat was again frustrated by Westfield’s defense, beginning when Heinbokel fired a bullet from behind the plate to Mele, nailing the runner at second base. Later, Barmakian on third bare-handed a short hopper down the third base line and fired a one-hop bullet, which was scooped up by Boutsikaris on first. With runners in scoring position on second and third, DiFilippo retired the side with a strikeout.
The fourth inning produced Westfield’s second double-play of the evening, when Barmakian fielded a grounder at the mound and shot it to Rinaldi at second, who threw it to Boutsikaris at first. After a walk by Bremer, Varano’s big hit to right center produced a double, moving Bremer to third. DiFilippo loaded the bases with a walk. Varakian’s fly ball was dropped, allowing Bremer to score Westfield’s second run of the evening. Berkeley Heights ended the inning with a double play.
It was three up and three down in the top of the fifth. In the bottom of the fifth, Heinbokel had a line drive single to left center, followed by a line drive by Boutsikaris up the middle for another single. With men on first and second, Oberman’s shot down the first base line enabled Heinbokel to score and Boutsikaris to advance to third. The fourth run was scored as a result of BH’s failed attempt to pick off Rinaldi at first, enabling Oberman to score.
Westfield entertained fans with the third double-play of the game in the top of the sixth inning: with Varakian on the mound and a man on first, a line drive was snagged by Varakian and fired to Boutsikaris at first.
In the bottom of the sixth, the program switched to Old Timer’s Day when a hard hit Varano foul ball was bare-handed on the sidelines by the Senior Varakian, and then whipped to First Base Coach Varano, who effortlessly scooped the lightning bolt with his baseball cap.
When the action returned to the main event, a nice hit by Varakian with bases loaded allowed the fifth run of the night to score. DiFilippo scored the final run of the game on Mele’s grounder. The inning ended when BH snagged Heinbokel’s line drive shot and produced a double play.
The final inning was highlighted when a grounder up the middle allowed the Rinaldi-Boutsikaris duo to efficiently produce Westfield’s fourth double play of the night.
Twilight fell. The game ended. The crowd roared. Westfield 6, Berkeley Heights 0.
4 Double Plays!
DP1
DP2
DP3
DP4
Steven's blast in the 1st
Devin's single in the 2nd
Nick collects the first RBI of the game
Chris V doubles in the 4th
Liam starts the rally in the 5th
Bouts singles to advance Liam
Rowan picks up an RBI
Vin's single in the 6th
Eric's RBI single in the 6th
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