Senior American Legion Team Clinches Third Place in County

The Westfield Senior American Legion baseball team is two home wins away from advancing to the state tournament for the first time under Coach Ken Miller's guidance.

Westfield clinched third place in the final Union County standings Friday night after winning at Springfield 8-1 on the last day of the regular season.

Westfield won seven of its last eight games to finish 13-5-0 for 26 points.

"The goal is to try to get next year's varsity team ready," Miller said. "It would also be a good experience for our team to be able to play in the state tournament."

In order to qualify for the state tournament, Westfield – which is situated in District 2 along with the rest of the teams from the Union County League – will have to win at home Monday and then again on Tuesday.

Three Union County teams are advancing to the states, with first place Roselle and second place Union Catholic having earned automatic bids.

Unless there's a tie, a playoff is usually held to determine the third team from Union County that advances to the state tournament.

Last year's teams that earned automatic bids were Roselle and Union Catholic, with Union being the third team that advanced after the regular season was complete.
Monday's 5 p.m. playoff games include sixth-seeded Union at third-seeded Westfield and fifth-seeded Scotch Plains at fourth-seeded Watchung Hills.

The winners will play each other Tuesday at 5 p.m. at the highest seed for Union County's third and final entrant into the state tournament, which commences on Saturday, July 17.

Westfield, according to Miller, already knows that if it advances it will play its first district game at Ridgefield Park on Saturday.

In regular season play, Westfield defeated Union 5-4 at home on June 8 – the second day of the season – while Watchung Hills downed Scotch Plains 4-3 and 5-4 at Scotch Plains on June 11.

Roselle finished first at 17-1-0 for 34 points and Union Catholic second at 14-4-0 for 28 points.

Westfield was the only team to beat Roselle, winning at home by the score of 7-1 on July 1.

There are four districts that cover the state for senior legion.

Unlike Union County's Junior American Legion, there is no playoff tournament in senior legion to determine which teams will advance to the districts.
Berkeley Heights was 11-5-0 for 22 points before Friday's scheduled game at Linden. Berkeley Heights did not seek to advance to the state tournament.
Watchung Hills defeated the Celtics 9-5 at home in its regular season finale Friday to place fourth in the final standings with a 12-6-0 record for 24 points.
Scotch Plains won at New Providence 9-0 Friday to finish sixth in the standings at 10-7-1 for 21 points.

Union lost at Roselle 12-11 Friday to place seventh in the standings at 10-8-0 for 20 points.

If Westfield wins Monday, it will host Tuesday's final playoff game. Should Westfield lose and Watchung Hills win Monday, then Watchung Hills will host Tuesday's final playoff game.

Scotch Plains will host Tuesday's playoff game if it wins Monday and if Union wins at Westfield Monday.

At Ruby Field in Springfield on Friday night, Westfield took a 1-0 lead with its first run in the top of the second and never looked back. Westfield scored three more runs in the fourth, one more in the fifth and three more in the sixth.
Springfield's lone run came in the bottom of the sixth. Springfield finished 7-11-0 for 14 points.

Westfield also defeated Springfield 6-0 at home on June 16.

"They're all good kids here," said Miller, the Westfield junior varsity coach since 1994.

After Mike Coletta reached on an infield error in the second, Matt Rivera drove him in with an RBI-double to left-center for a 1-0 Westfield lead.

In the fourth, Brett Ryan singled to center and then stole second before scoring on an opposite field RBI-triple to right-center slugged by Matt Varakian. After Will Riggs drove in Westfield's third run on an RBI-groundout to short, Coletta hit a shot to right field for a standoup triple. Coletta then scored after a fielder's choice and throwing error on the same play.

Westfield's fifth run was produced on a groundout in the fifth.

Coletta led off the sixth with his second triple, blasting a shot over the center fielder's head. Rivera drove him in with an RBI-double over the left fielder's head. Westfield's final two runs came as the result of an infield error when Westfield had the bases loaded.

Right hander Mike Mondon started for Westfield and pitched five complete innings, allowing no runs on only two hits. He struck out seven, walked two and hit two batters.

"Mike was our No. 1 pitcher on JV," Miller said. "He was 6-1 for us on JV and will be a junior."

Right hander Tripp Nugent allowed one run on two hits and struck out two when he pitched the sixth for Westfield, while Rivera pitched a scoreless, hitless seventh to finish the game.

Miller said right hander Zach Archambault finished the senior legion regular season 4-2. Miller projects Archambault and legion teammates Justin White and Ryan to be varsity hurlers for head coach Bob Brewster next season.

Varakian, Riggs and Steve Forgash were to represent Westfield at Sunday night's Senior Legion All-Star Game that was to be played at Union's Teener League Field.
Varakian, who will be a junior, is batting .380 out of the No. 3 spot in the lineup. He plays left field.

"Matt has a lot of power and speed and is very coachable," Miller said. "He will be a varsity outfielder next year."

Riggs, a solid catcher who threw out one Springfield baserunner attempting to steal second, will be a senior in the fall. He has had to play behind fellow seniors-to-be A.J. Murray and Dan Kerr.

"This is a chance for Will to get as many at-bats as he can," Miller said. "He's batting over .400 and has thrown out 10 runners stealing.

"He could be a designated hitter next year."

Miller also lauded the play of lefty-batting leadoff hitter Matt O'Rourke, who is manning center field after a hand injury.

"He's fast and has been hitting the ball well for us," Miller said.

Forgash, a right fielder, saw some time on the varsity this past season, but projects to make more of an impact as a senior next year. He is batting .360 during this senior legion season.

"He was also an All-Star for us last year," Miller said. "He's deceivingly fast and has a good arm."

MONDAY, JULY 12, 5 p.m.
PLAYOFF GAMES
6-Union at 3-Westfield
5-Scotch Plains at 4-Watchung Hills

TUESDAY, JULY 13, 5 p.m.
PLAYOFF GAME
Monday winners at the highest seed.

WESTFIELD SENIOR LEGION
5-James O'Rourke, center fielder, bats lefty
2-Brett Ryan, shortstop, switch hitter
9-Matt Varakian, left fielder
14-Will Riggs, catcher, bats lefty
3-Mike Coletta, first baseman, bats lefty
20-Matt Rivera, third baseman
8-Justin Erickson, right fielder
12-Aris Psyhojos, second baseman
18-John Randazzo, designated hitter
13-Justin White, pitcher
7-Mike Mondon, pitcher
1-Tripp Nugent, pitcher
19-James Barry, second baseman
16-Steve Forgash, right fielder
Zach Archambault, pitcher
All-Stars: Varakian, Riggs, Forgash
Coach: Ken Miller

REGULAR SEASON RESULTS/SCHEDULE
June 7 (A) Union Catholic 11, Westfield 1
June 8 (H) Westfield 5, Union 4
June 15 (A) Westfield 8, Berkeley Heights 4
June 16 (H) Westfield 6, Springfield 0
June 19 (A) Westfield 11, Linden 1
June 21 (A) Scotch Plains 6, Westfield 2
June 22 (A) Westfield 2, Watchung Hills 0
June 24 (H) Westfield 1, Linden 0
June 27 (A) Roselle 10, Westfield 6
June 27 (H) New Providence 6, Westfield 5
June 28 (H) Westfield 11, Clark 6
June 29 (A) Westfield 7, Celtics 0
June 30 (A) Westfield 9, New Providence 0
July 1 (H) Westfield 7, Roselle 1
July 5 (H) Westfield 7, Celtics 0
July 6 (H) Westfield 2, Elizabeth 0
July 8 (H) Union Catholic 15, Westfield 2
July 9 (A) Westfield 8, Springfield 1
July 12 Union at home, 5 p.m. – playoff game
July 13 home playoff game at 5 p.m. if won on July 12
Record: 13-5-0, 26 points - third place
Home: 7-2
Away: 6-3