The third-seeded Westfield Blue Devils shut out the fourteenth-seeded Plainfield Cardinals in the first round of the Union County Tournament at EIS. Westfield had control of the game from the beginning and cruised to a ten-run victory on Monday.
DeMartino surrendered his sole hit to Plainfield’s Adrian Morel in the first inning.
Regarding his performance on the mound, DeMartino said: “I was locked in because the intensity was high, and it was an important game. I knew I needed to do well to advance our team to the next round.”
Senior catcher Mike Ionta added: “Brad had a solid rhythm the entire game, and was able to keep his composure. I didn’t really feel the need to visit him at the mound because he was in the zone.”
The bats came alive for Westfield as they managed to score 10 runs. The offense was led by senior Chris Arena who went 4–4 with 3 runs scored and 2 RBIs. Senior Calvin Robertshaw also helped jump-start the Blue Devil offense with two sacrifice flies in the early portion of the game.
Arena said: “[I] came [to the game] a little early to hit and get swings in. And I thought I was locked in because I didn’t try to do too much at the plate and saw his curveball well each time.”
Assistant Coach Mr. Brian Sloan said: “Chris has been working hard in the batting cage on his swing. He’s finally putting it all together and thriving in the middle of our order.”
Westfield will be playing eleventh-seeded Roselle Park, who upset Union earlier in the week, at EIS in the next round.
Sloan said: “We have to keep our focus and work hard in practice. We want to concentrate on keeping our strikeouts down and putting the ball in play.”