Toms River LL's Run Comes to End

No deja vu. The run is over.

The Toms River Little League’s attempt to rally in the bottom of the sixth inning for the second time in three days against Newark National Little League of Delaware fell short this time, and the New Jersey champions lost 4-3 in the Mid-Atlantic Region semifinals in Bristol, Conn., on Friday. The loss eliminated Toms River from the tournament.

Newark National advances to the Mid-Atlantic championship game on Sunday, where the Delaware state champions will take on Taney Little League of Pennsylvania. Taney defeated Colonie Little League of Albany, N.Y., in the other semifinal, 8-4.

Trailing 4-0 going into the bottom of the sixth inning, Toms River fought back in the rematch between the teams, who had met Wednesday in pool play in a game Toms River won 11-10 in the bottom. Vinny Rose walked and moved to third on consecutive wild pitches to Jon Giordano by Newark National pitcher Jack Hardcastle, who had been solid to that point, allowing just four baserunners and two hits until that point. Hardcastle walked Giordano and was lifted in favor of A.J. Blanchard, who promptly gave up a double to Connor Cino to score two runs. Christian Wood singled to drive in Cino. Phil Antoniotti then hit a grounder to short that erased Wood. Jason Kapp, who had been strong as a pinch-hitter all tournament, singled, giving Toms River runners on first and second with two outs. Kayla Roncin then found herself on the other end of where she’d been two weeks earlier. Batting with two runners on and two outs, she looked at two strikes, then Blanchard induced a grounder to second base to end Toms River’s rally.

Runs had been difficult to come by for both teams all game, but errors came back to haunt Toms River. Newark scored its first run in the top of the third, when Brett Callahan, who reached on a fielder’s choice, scored on an errant throw from right field after a single by Jason Dauerty. Newark added a run in the top of the fifth, when Callahan singled to left to drive in Chris Thuys, who was in as a pinch runner for Jude Schnatterer, who had reached on a single.

Newark then added two more runs in the top of the sixth. Dauerty led off with an infield single, speeding down the line to beat the throw of Antoniotti from third base. After Giordano struck out the 6-foot-1 Hardcastle, Brandon Sengphachanh smacked a single to right that moved Dauerty to third. With Blanchard batting, Dauerty scored on a passed ball, and then Sengphachanh scored on a single by Wyatt Minner to make it 4-0.

Toms River looked like it would rally in the bottom of the fifth, when it put runners on with two outs. Tyler Avallone walked and Joey Schifilliti singled, but Hardcastle got Colin Baker to bounce into a fielder’s choice to end the inning.
Antoniotti was stellar in 4-2/3 innings from the mound, striking out five and walking just one. And he was backed by some spectacular defense, including a leaping catch in center field by Giordano for the first out of the game and a major league-quality double play in the fourth inning that started with Nick DeRose making a diving grab, flipping the ball to Rose for the force at second, with Rose firing a strike to Roncin at first to complete the double play.

Newark completed its share of stellar defensive plays, including a nifty double play by Callahan in the bottom of the third inning. Roncin singled for Toms River’s first hit of the game, only to be erased on a bouncer to second base by Bill Fleury that Callahan snared, tagging Roncin on the way down before throwing to first to get Fleury.