Late Rally Pushes Westfield Past Ridge, 7-3

What started as a good old fashioned pitching duel between the Red and Blue Devils of Ridge and Westfield, turned into a nightmare ending for Ridge as ill-timed mistakes cost the team their slim lead in the final inning.

Ridge was the first to put numbers up on the scoreboard with a two-out rally in the bottom of the first. Shortstop Greg Fazio hit a shot into the woods at Pleasant Valley Park for a ground-rule double and stole third before Ridge cleanup hitter Charles Dennis followed with a ground-rule double of his own to bring in the run. Second baseman Andrew Graziano continued the rally with a third straight double, bringing in a second run. In a sign of things to come, the inning ended on a base-running error when Westfield Catcher A.J. Murray picked Graziano off second after he took too large of a lead.

Ridge starter Harrison Fonteix, pitching his first full game since recovering from a broken collarbone, was kept on a short leash to limit his pitch count. Fonteix showed signs of a positive recovery and potential future impact for the Red Devils, giving up just four hits and one run over five innings of work.

"He threw a fantastic game," Ridge head coach Tom Blackwell said. "He hasn't had a lot of work in preseason, so we were kind of putting him out there … but he was very efficient and he did a fantastic job."

The single run came in the third, when Westfield left fielder Greg Fortino hit a lead-off single and moved to second off a sacrifice bunt from centerfielder Brett Johnson. After the second out, second baseman Max Fusaro knocked in the run with a double to left.

Westfield starting pitcher Phil Russo settled in after his rocky first inning, giving up just one more run over the next five innings before being pulled in the seventh. Russo gave up nine hits and had four strikeouts over his six innings of work.

"He's been great," said Westfield assistant coach Brian Sloan. "He just works his off-speed pitches and then he can sneak his fastball in there."

"The first inning he was struggling a little bit with his off-speed but then he worked on it and he was able to keep [Ridge] off-balance," Sloan said. "He got a [few] strikeouts, and a lot of groundballs."

Ridge scored again in the fifth to take a 3-1 lead over the Blue Devils. Left fielder Dan Curcio got on base with an infield single with one out, and first baseman Rob McCarthy walked to put two on for Fazio. Fazio dropped a hit into the outfield scoring Curcio easily, but miscommunication on the bases led to McCarthy being thrown out at third, killing the rally.

The Blue Devils scored one off reliever Jake Hotz in the top of the sixth to decrease Ridge's lead to 3-2. Westfield's Murray led off with a single and third baseman Rob Anderson doubled to bring in the run.

The seventh and final inning is when things fell apart for Ridge. Ben Edsall came on in relief but struggled with his control and velocity, hitting the first batter, Westfield's Fortino, to put the tying run on base. Westfield's Johnson hit a bloop single over the second baseman's head, advancing Fortino to third. Fusaro hit a hard grounder followed by a Ridge throwing error allowing two to score with one out. Murray and first baseman Dan Kerr both singled, scoring Fusaro, Both runners advanced when Ridge first baseman McCarthy was ruled to have caught a foul ball and carried it out of play. Westfield's Steve Forgash reached base on another error, and Brett Ryan's hit into shallow right field popped out of the diving right fielder's glove scoring two more. Westfield scored five total runs in the inning to take a 7-3 lead that proved final after Aidan Scanlon closed out the seventh for the Blue Devils with a two strikeout inning.

"I thought we played great for six innings, but then we made a couple of mental errors and physical errors, and when you are playing competition like this that will cost you the ballgame," Blackwell said.

"[These our] things we practice, but early in a season when you haven't been on a field very much, I don't want to justify it but they do happen. And you just hope they don't happen in a key spot, but they did."

Westfield improved to 2-1 on the season and Ridge fell to 1-2. Ridge will attempt to shake off the tough finish to play Phillipsburg at home today at 3:45 p.m.