Toms River L.L. Wins State Championship

All it took was one pitch.

Well, one pitch twice.

“One swing, one pitch,” Toms River Coach Jim DeRose said to fellow coach Ray Roncin. “Can you believe it?”

In a game where anyone on any given day can be a hero, it was Kayla Roncin’s turn to be that hero.

Not once but twice.

Kayla Roncin blasted a two-run home run in the third inning to give the Toms River Little League All-Stars a two-run lead, and then with a single pitch helped seal their 7-6 victory over the Ocean City-Upper Township All-Stars in the winner-take-all game of the Joe Graziano State Championships at Berkeley Little League in Bayville on Monday night.

With the bases loaded and two outs, and Ocean City’s Eric Greening sitting on a 2-0 count, Roncin came on in relief of Alex Civitello and served up a low strike that Greening drove high into the night sky. As it started to fall back to earth, starting pitcher-turned-centerfielder Jon Giordano made a running, diving catch that set off a celebration and earned Toms River a berth in the Little League East Regional Tournament in Bristol, Conn.

“At first I thought it was going to be an out, and then I saw it falling,” Roncin said later. “Then Gio was there.”

“First I heard everyone screaming,” Giordano said. “I wasn’t looking at anything in front of me.

Roncin had pitched sparing during the season, but with the game on the line, the coaching staff wanted someone they felt could throw the hardest, coach Jim DeRose said. And with that, manager Pete Avallone asked Roncin to take the ball.

“All we asked her to do was throw her best pitch,” said her father, Ray Roncin. She threw four balls in the dirt warming up, but when it counted, and with Toms River fans yelling “Girl Power” to show their support, she threw the low strike to Greening.

“She’s got steel in her blood,” Ray Roncin said.

When Giordano realized the ball was in his glove, “It was a feeling like nothing I’ve ever felt before.” And in moments he was at the bottom of a pile of joy-filled teammates.

Giordano had led the way, throwing 87 pitches, striking out 12 and walking just three batters before having to hand off the ball in the sixth inning.

“I trust my team,” Giordano said about having to give up the ball at that point. “There was no doubt in my mind that we would win.”

There had been no doubt in his mind -- or among his teammates -- from the beginning of the game, even after Ocean City-Upper Township took a 2-0 lead on solo home runs by Gannon Brady and Joe Gallagher.

Toms River responded in the bottom of the second, tying the game on run-scoring singles by Phil Antoniotti and Bill Fleury.

In the third, Roncin stepped to the plate with an 0-for-12 slump and two outs after Ocean City turned a double play. Her teammate, Connor Cino, had reached on an infield single. And with one swing of the bat, she put her team ahead with a towering blast to left center.

“I’ve been in a slump lately, but as soon as I hit it, I knew,” said Roncin, who said she’s hit a dozen home runs this year.

In the fourth inning, it appeared Ocean City would respond after its first two batters got on base. But Giordano shut the door, striking out the side.

“I didn’t’ really feel like I had my best stuff,” Giordano said, “but when you strike out the side, it’s pretty special.”

Toms River added to its lead in the bottom of the fourth, going ahead 6-2, with Antoniotti scoring on a single by Joe Schiffilitti and Vinny Rose -- who came in to run for Schiffilitti -- scoring on a single by Nick DeRose.

Ocean City made it 6-5 in the fifth when Brock Mercado drilled a two-run home run over the left-field fence and Brian Furey, Ocean City’s pitcher, drove Gallagher, who had singled after Mercado’s homer.

But Toms River added what turned out to be a critical insurance run in the bottom of the inning, when Jason Kapp, who had singled, scored from first on a single to right-center by Colin Baker, running hard the whole way.

“If he wasn’t hustling off first base we don’t get that run and we’re tied right now,” Jim DeRose said.

Ocean City wasn’t done yet.

Giordano struck out the first batter but was at 87 pitches and had to give up the ball. Civitello came in and induced a ground ball to get the second out, but he was facing the heart of Ocean City’s order. With the bases loaded after an intentional walk to Mercado, Civitello handed off Greening to Roncin, who finished the job with one pitch.

“This was a total team effort,” coach Jim DeRose said. “I could go down the roster and everyone played a role.”

But Roncin’s role was definitely special, he said.

“She had been struggling,” DeRose said, “and she was upset in the dugout. We told her that every day it’s a different hero.”

And on this day, Roncin got to be the hero, throwing the low strike that gave Giordano the chance to catch the fly ball to end it.

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