Westfield Edged by Union Catholic, 4-3

Their defense kept them in the game, but their offense never got on track, and the Blue Devils girls softball team fell to Union Catholic Saturday in the Union County Tournament.

While Union Catholic is seeded seventh in the tournament, they boast an 11-5 record compared to 10th-seeded Westfield's 5-13 mark, so the Blue Devils were heavy underdogs.

But they didn't look it Saturday, loading the bases in the seventh before  Union Catholic freshman pitcher Colleen Dow, a Scotch Plains native, ended the game with a strikeout.

"The defense was great for both teams, there weren't too many strikeouts, but we didn't make any errors,'' said Union Catholic coach Ed Ryan. "Colleen was hitting the corners very well. She's a good young pitcher and has kept us in a lot of games.''

The game was scoreless heading into the fifth inning when Union Catholic broke through. One of the key moments came when Ryan told senior Toni Ann Beckman to bunt. The bunt didn't work, but Beckman recovered to slam an RBI triple and sophomore Ashley Straile added a two-run double in the inning.

Westfield didn't go quietly, rallying when junior Emma Crossland stole home and Nikki Aronson scored on a passed ball in the sixth. Nikki Schneider's RBI triple in the seventh pulled the Blue Devils one run closer, but Dow was able to cap the game in the seventh with a strikeout that was tipped into the glove of catcher Erin Farley.

Senior Sara Connery went 2-for-3 with a run scored for the Blue Devils.

"They were similar to us in pitching and hitting," said Ryan. "It was a game of two evenly matched teams.''

Union Catholic will play the winner of Monday's game between second-seeded Governor Livingston and 15th-seeded Dayton at 6 p.m. Friday night at Memorial Field in Linden.