Toms River Rallies to Stay Undefeated

Toms River Little League rallied with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning Wednesday to earn a hard-fought, 11-10 victory over Newark National Little League of Delaware to earn the top seed in the Mid-Atlantic Region semifinals in Bristol, Conn.

The New Jersey state champions from District 18 will square off Friday at 3 p.m. against either Colonie Little League of New York, or Delaware. The game will be televised on ESPN. Toms River (4-0) earned the top seed in the semifinals by virtue of Colonie Little League of New York knocking off Taney Little League of Pennsylvania on Tuesday evening.

Jason Kapp, Colin Baker and Christian Wood each had two RBI, but it was Nick DeRose’s second RBI -- and fourth walk of the game -- that put Toms River over the top.

Trailing 10-9 after Newark National’s AJ Blanchard hit a two-run home run in the top of the sixth to give Delaware its first lead of the game, Kapp stepped to the plate and hit a grounder that the Newark shortstop mishandled, allowing Kapp to reach first safely. Tyler Avallone sacrificed to move Kapp to second and William Fleury singled to right, moving Kapp to third.

Jon Giordano, who had been walked twice with runners on, then doubled to left field, driving in Kapp and moving Fleury to third. Newark intentionally walked Connor Cino to load the bases, taking its chances with DeRose. But after a first-pitch strike, he looked at four straight balls for the walk that scored Fleury and earned Toms River the win.

It was a win Newark made them earn. With Toms River leading 9-4 after four innings, the Delaware champions rallied to draw within 9-8. Brandon Sengphachanh doubled off Joey Schifilliti to start the inning and Blanchard singled to move him to third.

Wyatt Minner singled, scoring Sengphachanh and moving Chris Thuys, who was running for Blanchard, to third. Then Zachary Pereira blasted a three-run homer to left field to make it 9-8. Toms River was able to stop the rally, however, as Schifilliti buckled down and got two fly balls and a grounder to end the inning.

This game was all about offense, however. Toms River took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Vinny Rose opened Toms River’s half of the first inning with a double to right field, and after a walk to Giordano, Baker delivered a two-run double to right. Baker later scored on a single by Phil Antoniotti for a 3-0 Toms River lead.

Newark National tied it in the top of the second, on a double and three singles, aided by a passed ball and a walk by Kapp, who struck out six in three innings pitched.

Toms River responded with three runs in the bottom of the second. Giordano worked a walk and moved to third on a single by Connor Cino. Giordano scored on a fielder’s choice to third by DeRose and Fleury, running for Cino, advanced to third. Wood then smacked a 2-2 pitch over the center-field fence for a two-out- two-run home run to make it 6-3 Toms River. Kapp then opened with a double in the bottom of the third inning and scored on a single by Schifilliti to make it 7-3.

Newark National scored a run off Schifilliti in the top of the fourth on a pair of singles and an error, before Toms River made it 9-4 lead in the bottom of the inning on Kapp’s two-run single that drove in DeRose and Antoniotti.

UPDATE: Corrected potential semifinalists to reflect New York is the fourth semifinalist, not Northwest Washington.