2010 Westfield Blue 12S Summer Travel Baseball: Westfield Blue Ends 2 Game Skid and Garners 1st Union Tournament Victory Over Host Team 8-5

In Game 2 of the 4-Team Union Tournament, Westfield Blue rallied to defeat the host team 8-5 in a game that was played at Hall Stadium in sweltering 91 degree mid-afternoon heat.

Coming off a bitter 11-2 defeat at the hands of Westfield White in league play and a close loss to Cranford in the tournament opener the day before, WF Blue managed to overcome Union leads of both 2-0 and 3-2 en route to its 1st tournament win.

With Tyler (3 IP, 1 ER, 2 Hs, 2 BBs and 2 Ks) on the mound in the 1st, Union's lead-off batter doubled of the left-center field wall, advanced to 3rd on a grounder to SS and scored on an E-5 grounder. Another E-5 grounder allowed the 2nd unearned run to score before a fly-out to Owen Murray in CF closed out the top half of the inning.

In the bottom half of the 1st inning, WF Blue evened the score at 2 apiece. Tyler led off the inning with a single to deep short, stole 2B and moved to third on Rowan's hard hit single to left on an 0-2 pitch. He then scored on a sacrifice fly to LF by Steven (3 RBI's) which also moved Rowan to 2nd. Cameron followed with a grounder to the SS that moved Rowan to 3B, who then proceeded to score on throwing error by the Union first baseman.

After neither team scored in the 2nd inning, Union took the lead again in the 3rd when its #3 batter homered on the 1st pitch of the inning. Union held onto the lead until the bottom of the 4th when WF Blue scored two runs to take the lead again 4-3. With 1 out Rowan lined a single to CF and then stole 2B. Steven followed him by hitting a dramatic HR on a 1-2 pitch to deep RF then ended up in the ballpark's next door neighbor's backyard.

While Rowan (WP, 3 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB and 3 Ks) made sure that the host team stayed quiet in the 4th and 5th innings with two innings of scoreless relief pitching, WF Blue broke open the game in the bottom of the 5th with five consecutive singles by Owen M, JD, OB (1 RBI), Dan (1 RBI) and MJ (2 RBIs) which made the score 8-3.

In the bottom of the 6th, Union was able to score 2 unearned runs due to two E-5s and two E-6s. However, Rowan's strong pitching performance and some solid defensive infield plays at 3B and SS enabled the team to overcome its fielding mishaps, which provided Coach Murray with some post-game instructional material.

Other game highlights were Rowan's 3 for 3 plate performance as well as four catches by Owen M. in CF, one of which was a real nice sliding grap that ended the visitor's 4th inning and set the stage for Steven's go-ahead, out of Hall Stadium HR that helped propel the team to its much needed victory.

Submitted, albeit late, by Jamie Marner in an effort to make Coach Bobby B look good in comparison. :-)