WESTFIELD - What are the main reasons why the Westfield Blue Devils are 12-1 overall, have won four straight, and lead the Union County Conference’s upper Watchung Division at 5-1?
“We have strong arms, are swinging the bat well and our defense has been solid,” third-year head coach Jay Cook said. “Pitching and defense you can control every day. Timely hitting certainly helps.”
Following Monday’s 10-5 home win over Millburn Cook headed to the Union County Tournament seeding meeting and saw his team earn the top seed for the 70th annual edition.
Westfield has won the most crowns with 15. Cook, as senior, was the starting and winning pitcher when Westfield topped Johnson 7-4 at Linden in the 2002 championship game.
Cook served as an assistant to Bob Brewster before taking over in 2022 after Brewster finished in 2021 as the winningest coach in Union County History with 655.
Brewster won the last 11 of Westfield’s 15 titles, tied with present Cranford head coach Dennis McCaffery for the most championship game wins. The only loss McCaffery suffered in a title game was in 2017 to Westfield 6-3, which was the last year the Blue Devils hoisted the trophy.
Cranford has won the last two UCT titles and is 11-1 in the final since 1999, all under McCaffery. Cranford has won the second-most UCT crowns with the 11 McCaffery has led them to.
“We have an experienced team that’s been together since they were sophomores,” Cook said. “We lost to Cranford in the semifinals the last two years so our kids will be ready to go.”
Westfield last reached the final in 2021 when the Blue Devils defeated the Cougars in the semifinals that season behind a superb pitching performance from senior right hander Chris Ho. Westfield then lost to Gov. Livingston in the final. The semifinals and final that year were played at Elizabeth.
“We have a lot of rivals in the county,” said Westfield senior pitcher-outfielder Tomas Cestaro, who began the week with 14 hits and 10 RBI. “We’re coming to win everything. It starts with the counties.”
Westfield is also sparked offensively by big junior first baseman Braedon Trajkovski, and junior Jake Alfano. Trajkovski began the week leading the team in hits with 17 and Alfano in RBI with 13. Senior infielder Nic Labin had 12 hits and 11 RBI.
Trajkovski at .421 and Cestaro at .395 had the highest batting averages.
Excelling on the mound have been Cestaro and fellow senior right hander Jack Chavez, in addition to senior righty Kevin Dowling and junior left hander Grant Como. Other moundsmen include senior Tommy Hyland, junior Brendan Kelly, sophomore Logan Revock and freshman Anthony Narciso.
Dowling at 2.10 and Chavez at 2.23 had the top earned-run averages, with Chavez having 28 strikeouts in 15.2 innings and Dowling 17 in 16.2. Cestaro had 28 in 15.2.
“We did a lot of work in the off-season,” Cestaro said. “We like to play loose and have fun.”
Cook’s first two teams in 2022 and 2023 went 14-9-1 and 14-10. This year’s squad is fast approaching a higher win total.
Last week Westfield went 3-1. After suffering its only loss to Watchung Division newcomer Summit 11-4 at Summit, the Blue Devils quickly rebounded the next day to beat Cranford 7-6 after scoring three runs in the bottom of the seventh after Cranford scored three in the top of the seventh to take a two-run lead. Westfield then beat GL 12-5 at home on Friday and followed that victory up with a 5-1 win at Bernards Saturday.
“In all those games we won last week we were down and battled back to win, which was a good sign,” Cook said.
The two preliminary round games are 18-Plainfield at 15-Linden and 17-Rahway at 16-Roselle Catholic on Wednesday, May 1. The eight first-round games at the higher seeds are scheduled for this Saturday, Mary 4.
The quarterfinals are next Wednesday, May 8 at the higher seeds and then the semifinals are Saturday, May 11 at Johnson High School in Clark.
The final is set for Monday, May 13 at Kean University’s field in Union.
“We’re starting to come into our own now,” Cook said. “We also know that any tournament we enter will not be easy.”
GL, which is the No. 2 seed and last won the crown for the third time in 2021, beat New Providence 1-0 Monday to improve to 12-2 overall and 5-2 in the Watchung Division.
Scotch Plains, the third seed, won at Summit 6-4 Monday to sweep the Watching Division series against the Hilltoppers. Scotch Plains previously defeated Summit 3-1 at home on April 9. The Raiders improved to 12-4 overall and 5-2 in the Watchung Division
Summit got the fourth seed. The Hilltoppers won at GL 11-10 in nine innings on April 16 when the Highlanders were 7-0 and then last Tuesday handed Westfield its first loss following an 8-0 start. Summit fell to 10-3-1 overall on Monday and 5-3 in the Watchung Division.
Two-time defending UCT champion Cranford is the fifth seed. The Cougars improved to 9-5 on Monday with a 10-0 Watchung Division home win over Johnson.
The top five seeds are all from the Watchung Division.
Elizabeth, the Mountain Division leader at 7-1, is the sixth seed. The Minutemen fell to 11-3 overall Monday after a 7-6 Mountain Division home loss to Dayton.
Valley Division leader at 6-0 is Roselle Park, which is the 14th seed. The Panthers fell to 10-2 on Monday after a 4-1 setback at Whippany Park. Roselle Park’s only other loss was at North Arlington 9-2 on April 5. The Panthers had a nine-game winning streak snapped Monday.
Roselle Park is also the only Union County school not to have lost to a Union County school yet.
2024 UCT SEEDS: 1-Westfield. 2-GL. 3-Scotch Plains. 4-Summit.
5-Cranford. 6-Elizabeth. 7-Brearley. 8-Union Catholic.
9-New Providence. 10-Dayton. 11-Johnson. 12-Union.
13-Oratory Prep. 14-Roselle Park. 15-Linden. 16-Roselle Catholic.
17-Rahway. 18-Plainfield.
PRELIMINARY ROUND:
Wednesday, May 1
18-Plainfield at 15-Linden
17-Rahway at 16-Roselle Catholic
FIRST ROUND:
Saturday, May 4
TOP SIDE OF THE BRACKET:
17-Rahway/16-Roselle Catholic at 1-Westfield
9-New Providence at 8-Union Catholic
13-Oratory Prep at 4-Summit
12-Union at 5-Cranford
BOTTOM SIDE OF THE BRACKET:
18-Plainfield/15-Linden at 2-GL
14-Roselle Park at 3-Scotch Plains
11-Johnson at 6-Elizabeth
10-Dayton at 7-Brearley
QUARTERFINALS:
Wednesday, May 8
At higher seeds
SEMIFINALS:
Saturday, May 11
At Johnson
FINAL:
Monday, May 13
At Kean University
Follow JR Parachini on X (Twitter) @ parachini_jr
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