PHILADELPHIA - Kyle Missry is not used to starting the game on the bench nor having a chance to think about an at-bat for an entire half-inning.

However, as the second designated hitter to enter Monday's Carpenter Cup Classic semifinal game for the Jersey Shore team, the St. Rose star had a chance to ponder a potential at-bat in the top of the 10th inning while sitting in the dugout of Citizens Bank Ballpark during the entire bottom of the ninth.

After all that thinking in the dugout, Missry can barely remember what was going through his head once he finally swung the bat and put the Shore into Tuesday's final.

Missry unloaded on a 1-0 offering in the top of the 10th inning and blasted a shot over the left-field wall at the home of the Philadelphia Phillies for a tie-breaking solo home run that gave Jersey Shore a 6-5 win over Delaware County. The Shore will defend its Carpenter Cup championship Tuesday morning at 10 a.m. against S.O.L. National/Bicentennial at Citizens Bank Park in a bid to become just the second team in the 29-year history of the tournament and the first since 1991-92 to win back-to-back titles.

"It something I've always dreamed of, hitting a home run in a major league park," Missry said. "It's so special. It's something I'll never forget."

Delaware tied the game in the bottom of the eighth inning against Colts Neck left-hander Chris Murphy. After Jersey Shore could not take advantage of a one-out double by Middletown South catcher Zach Schild in the top of the ninth, Missry watched from the dugout hoping Murphy could escape the bottom of the inning and get him an at-bat to start the 10th.

"It definitely helped to get a chance to think about the at-bat for a whole half-inning," Missry said. "I was able to go up with a better approach, and I was able to get the pitch I wanted, and I got a good piece of it and it somehow got out of the park."

After taking ball one from Conestoga High School left-hander Mark Anderson, Missry zeroed in on a fastball and launched one into the bedding of flowers that rests between the top of the left-field fence and the first row of seats.

"I knew I hit it well, but I didn't think I actually hit it well enough to get it out of the park," Missry said. "I thought maybe it was a double over (left fielder Jona Siegel's) head or something like that, but to see it end up out of the park was amazing."

Murphy, who walked four batters over his first 1 2/3 innings, pitched a one-two-three 10th to nail down the win, striking out two in the final frame and three during his outing.

"I just didn't have my stuff for the first inning and two-thirds, but fortunately I was able to get out of them without doing too much damage," said Murphy, who pitched on the championship-winning Carpenter Cup team as a junior a year ago. "Then in the last inning, I was able to find my location with the fastball and start getting my curveball over for strikes. I think seeing the ball go over the fence in the top of the inning got everybody amped up."

Missry went 2-for-2 in his two plate appearances and earlier hit a two-out RBI single in the top of the seventh to give Jersey Shore a 5-4 lead.

Chris Murphy picked up the win in relief for Jersey Shore on Tuesday. (Photo by Matt Manley)
Chris Murphy picked up the win in relief for Jersey Shore on Tuesday. (Photo by Matt Manley)
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In two games so far in the tournament, Missry is 3-for-3 with a walk, a home run, two RBI and three runs scored. The four productive at-bats are a continuation of a huge senior season for the St. Rose first baseman, who led the Shore Conference with 15 doubles to go with a .478 average, three triples, two home runs, 38 RBI and an .869 slugging percentage.

Missry began the season battling an unknown illness that he said sapped him of 20 pounds. Once he was over the illness and began to put the weight back on, he immediately began hitting and never stopped for the 17-8 Purple Roses.

"I have no idea what it was, probably some kind of virus, but I lost 20 pounds, which was ridiculous," Missry said. "The first couple games back, I struggled to get my timing back, but about five or six games in, I started getting locked in, and I felt good the rest of the year."

Schild went 2-for-2 with a run scored on Missry's single and picked off a runner at first base from behind the plate in the bottom of the seventh. The pickoff helped Wall right-hander Ryan Orender escape a first-and-second, none-out jam, which was part of 2 1/3 strong innings for the Crimson Knights ace.

After falling behind, 2-0, in the bottom of the first inning, Shore chipped away at the deficit behind second-inning doubles by Ocean outfielder Anthony Bartolomei and Manalapan first baseman Jake Sadowitz. After Bartolomei blasted a double that one-hopped the warning track in left with one out, Sadowtiz came through with a two-out double to the right-center gap to chase home Bartolomei and cut the Delaware lead to 2-1.

Jersey Shore took the lead with two runs in the top of the third, which began with back-to-back infield singles by Shore Regional third baseman James Kelly and Colts Neck center fielder Mike Antico. Rumson second baseman Max Goione worked a walk after both runners moved up on a wild pitch, and with one out, Freehold Township's Joe Silvestrone walked to force home the tying run.

Bartolomei then followed with a go-ahead sacrifice fly to deep left field to score Antico.

After Delaware tied the game in the bottom of the third, Antico again ignited a go-ahead rally with an infield single, this time beating out a seemingly routine ground ball to shortstop. Antico - who also made a running and later a sliding catch in center field in key situations - then stole second base on a pickoff throw to first and moved to third on a ground ball to the right side by Goione. He then scored his second run on a sacrifice fly to the right-field warning track by Wall catcher Dan Wondrack.

Jersey Shore was not that far from hitting back-to-back home runs in the 10th, as Manalapan junior Chris Rodriguez launched a 400-foot shot to dead center field that Tom Leonard tracked down and snared with a leaping catch just in front of the wall.

Four of the five Shore pitchers who appeared on the mound threw more than one inning, and each of those four gave up at least one run. Manasquan right-hander Jack Sheehan pitched a scoreless fifth inning in his only frame of the game. In all, Jersey Shore pitchers combined to walk 10 batters and hit two more, but allowed only five hits and stranded 11 Delaware County runners on base.

After rolling up 31 runs on 42 hits over their first two tournament wins, the Shore squad pounded out 13 more hits in 10 innings on Monday. It is one more dominant offensive performance away from winning a second straight Carpenter Cup and becoming just the second team to ever win consecutive titles in the 30th edition of the tournament.

"It's a prestigious team that's had a lot of success in the past," said Missry, who will play at Montclair State University next year. "So there's a lot of pressure to try to live up to that success again this year, and we were able to come through today. Hopefully, we'll come through tomorrow and win us another championship."

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