Title of New Jersey Little League Baseball Champions Goes to Toms River East Little League
Toms River East Little League Registration
July 31, 2022
Fundraiser for South Toms River Girl With Brain Tumor
August 3, 2022Title of New Jersey Little League Baseball Champions Goes to Toms River East Little League
New Jersey Little League Baseball State Champions
NJ State Champions Heading to Bristol
It's Toms River East's second state championship in a row. The Metro Region Tournament will follow, and the victor will advance to the Little League World Series.
This Toms River East team was eliminated from the state championship a year ago when they were in the 11-year-old division. They will compete against state champions from New York, Connecticut, and Rhode Island in the Metro Tournament in Bristol, Connecticut beginning on August 6, and they will not only be state champions but also be broadcast on the ESPN networks at that time. Also, the Little League World Series is just around the corner.
TRELL NJ LITTLE LEAGUE BASEBALL STATE CHAMPIONS
Baseball Highlights
Starting pitcher for EAST, Logan Macchia was cruising in the state championship game between Rutherford Little League and Toms River East after five innings of shutout baseball.
A 9-0 victory over Rutherford by Toms River East gave Toms River the state championship. If it weren't for Little League's 85-pitch limit, Macchia would have finished the game. Mendes remarked, "He pitched a heck of a game." When Macchia was forced to leave the game due to the pitch-count rule, it gave him a chance to experience something he might never forget. After his final pitch, his teammates flooded him with hugs.
Logan Macchia of Toms River East - Photo Credit: APP
Mendes relied on his three pitching aces, Macchia, Brady Gillen, and Christian Mascaro, who together shut down some of the state's most potent lineups. Gillen capped the final game with a strikeout.
Toms River East applied pressure offensively from the starting lineup all the way to the bench. Mendes asked Deklin Sloan to pinch hit in the first inning with the bases loaded and two outs and Toms River East leading 1-0.
Toms River East Deklin Sloan, #88 - Photo Credit: APP
A two-run double and a three-run advantage were provided by Sloan. It was Sloan's second big hit of the state championship and the kind of performance Mendes has come to expect from every player on his squad.
This team, the coaching staff, and the players were all built with a strong field and a strong bench in mind according to Mendes. Big hitters include Deklin, Bryce Tomitz, Kevin O'Donnell, and Gavin Sengel. Mendes also stated when he adds a substitute in the game, he is not looking for an out, they are anticipating a hit, a double, and even a home run.In the second inning, Toms River East chased Rodriguez, and Jayce Cappello delivered the clinching blow with a two-run double that went all the way to the fence and brought in Mendes from second and Gillen from first to make it 5-0.
Cappello remarked, "He hung a curveball and it was just sitting there, so I hit it." "I knew we were going to score two runs when I saw it get past the left-fielder." For Toms River East, Cappello also displayed some skill in the field. In the fourth inning, he turned a clever double play by picking up a crisp groundball on a short hop to his glove side, tagging the second-base bag, and firing to first.Cappello finished the top of the third with a head-up play as well. Michael Mendes squeezed a fly ball into right field for the second out then shot the ball to Cappello in the baseline between second and third base with one out and runners on first and second. Cappello nearly caught Weber as he advanced to second base after catching the relay throw from the outfield. Cappello recognized Weber hadn't tagged up when he saw some ruckus and Weber racing back toward first base. Cappello ran the ball first, tagged the bag, and brought the inning to a close.
However, Toms River East put the game out of reach in the fifth by conclusively solving Weber. Weber's first hit of the day, a single by Moscaro, was followed by a pinch-hit walk from Gavin Senger. A passed ball put runners in scoring position, and Bryce Tomitz took advantage by hitting a sacrifice fly for the seventh run for Toms River after Weber had struck out to record the first out.
Then, to make it 8-0, catcher Ryan McHugh delivered an RBI single, and Mendes took a fastball off the helmet to add another baserunner. Mendes has received four helmet blows this season, according to his father, but was able to continue after gathering himself on the ground for a little more than a minute. After that, Gillen entered the game and hit an RBI single, giving the team a 9-0 advantage. This was the starting centerfielder's fourth base hit of the game. In his third at-bat, Gillen reached on an error and finished 3-for-4.Toms River East will compete in the four-team Metro Region, which is a newly created region for 2022, as it makes its second consecutive trip to the region tournament.
The Mid-Atlantic Region, which included New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. in previous years, included New Jersey. The four-team Metro Region this year consists of New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. First pitch of the tournament is set for Saturday in Bristol, Connecticut. The site of the Metro Region is the A. Bartlett Giamatti Little League Leadership Training Center located at 335 Mix Street, Bristol, Connecticut. ESPN, ESPN2, Longhorn Network and ESPN+ are televising all 86 region tournament games showcasing Great Lakes, Metro, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, Mountain, New England, Northwest, Southeast, Southwest and West Region action, as each team competes for a trip to Williamsport, Pennsylvania to play for the Little League Baseball World Series Championship.
