WESTFIELD – Camfour’s Thomas Ruffo hit a towering shot to left on a hit-and-run in the top of the seventh, scoring runners from first and second to cap a come-from-behind 12-11 win over Kiwanis late Friday night in the Greater Westfield Babe Ruth 13-14 Amanti Cup playoffs.
Camfour, the tournament’s top seed, moves on to the championship against ITI on Saturday at 4 at Bullens Field. ITI, unbeaten in the tournament thus far, needs one win to claim the Cup. Camfour must win to force a rematch, and decisive game on Sunday.
Kiwanis took the game’s first lead, 4-0, in the top of the first and held Camfour to half that total in the bottom half of the inning before exploding for five more runs over the next two innings and a 9-2 advantage.
But Camfour battled back to tie the game at 10-10 in the bottom of the sixth inning. Still, Kiwanis reclaimed the lead, 11-10, in the top of the seventh. But Camfour had the final answer.
It was a grueling game for both teams.
Billy Lamirande and Sean Murphy provided a gutsy performance on the mound for Kiwanis.
Tyler Stanton, Matt Hastings, and Alex Perez put together a solid pitching performance for Camfour.
