Shore Conference (NJ) Baseball Wednesday County Tournament Scoreboard, June 16

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Ocean County Tournament

Championship

At Toms River North

(2) Central 7, (4) Brick Memorial 6 (13 Innings)

Freshman catcher Cristian Soto ripped the game-winning RBI single into left field with two out in the bottom of the 13th inning and the Golden Eagles topped the Mustangs in an all-time classic to win the seventh Ocean County Tournament championship in program history and first since 2014.

Soto's walk-off hit capped a 5-for-6 day at the plate for the rookie backstop, who also turned in a strong defensive effort behind the plate for pitchers Cam Leiter and Connor Shea. One inning before winning it, Soto hit a two-out, game-tying RBI single through the middle to knot the game at 6-6 and push it into the 13th inning.

In the 13th, Central loaded the bases win none out, but Brick Memorial reliever Brandon Hulsart struck out two straight batters to reach the verge of escaping into the 14th inning. Hulsart, however, was past the 110-pitch limit for the game and turned it over to sophomore Brady Leach, who was the winning pitcher in Brick Memorial's 6-0 semifinal win over Toms River South on Saturday.

Soto took a breaking ball for strike one and was ready for the next one, turning on it with a line drive that was too sharp and too far out of the reach of third baseman Anthony Martino. The ball found grass in left field and junior Shane Sajewicz stormed home with the winning run to set off the celebration.

Brick Memorial held two leads in extra innings, scoring twice in the top of the 11th inning to go up 5-3. Senior Joe Gioia hit the first of his two go-ahead RBI hits in extra innings in the 11th - a double that scored Max Cala to make the score 4-3. Senior Cole Manfro - who started the game on the mound and lasted 6 1/3 innings - added an RBI single for insurance that proved to be critical.

In the bottom of the 11th, sophomore Dom Masino came through with a one-out, two-run double to the gap in left-centerfield to tie the game at 5-5. The swing was retribution for Masino, who committed a mental error in the top of the inning by fielding a ground ball with no one out and throwing to second base even though there was no runner on first to set up a force play.

Soto also made up for a defensive snafu in the 11th, when he let ball four to Max Cala get by him - the lone ball he did not block in the game - and casually went after it as Cala steamed into second base.

Gioia hit another go-ahead RBI single in the top of the 12th inning to put Brick Memorial ahead, 6-5, before Soto answered back in the bottom of the inning.

Leiter gave up an RBI single to Manfro in the top of the third, two unearned runs in the top of the fourth and back-to-back singles to senior Reese Hackett and Manfro leading off the fifth. From there, Leiter retired 10 of the last 11 batters he faced to close out what turned into a dominant outing.

Central chipped away at the 3-0 deficit with an RBI triple by sophomore Anthony Musso and an RBI groundout by junior Billy Sottilare in the fourth and a game-tying sacrifice fly by senior Trevor Coltenback in the fifth.

Pitching

Top Hitters

Monmouth County Tournament

Semifinals

(2) Red Bank Catholic 3, (14) CBA 1

Shane Panzini struck out 14 in his final start at Red Bank Catholic and was a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate to lead the Caseys past the Colts and into the MCT championship Friday.

All three of Panzini's plate appearances came with runners in scoring position, including his RBI single in the bottom of the first inning. With runners on first and second in the third, Panzini picked up an infield single and both Frank Scrivanic and Matt Scrivanic scored when the throw to first got away and ran up the fencing along the right-field line.

That was all the run support Panzini needed, although he was unable to get through the game within the single-game pitch count. The senior right-hander had 109 pitches through six and struck out the leadoff batter of the top of the seventh to complete his final game on the mound as a Casey.

Freshman Declan Leary surrendered a leadoff double to Liam Sweeney before settling in to retire the final two batters and close out the RBC win.

CBA got its run on a bases-loaded sacrifice fly by junior catcher Joe Figliolino in the top of the sixth to score Gavin Kus, who doubled to leadoff the inning.

Pitching

Top Hitters

(4) Rumson-Fair Haven 14, (1) Manalapan 10

Senior Thomas Elgrim went 4-for-5 with two doubles and three RBI to lead the Bulldogs (21-6-1) to two huge innings that proved to be enough in beating the top-seeded Braves (18-8) and advancing to the Monmouth County Tournament championship.

Rumson six runs in the top of the second to take a 6-1 lead, highlighted by an RBI double by Elgrim and a two-run double by junior Matt Rigby.

After Manalapan stormed back to take an 8-6 lead in the bottom of the third, Rumson swing back with eight in the top of the fourth. Junior Charlie Tallman (2-for-6, two runs, two RBI) hit the go-ahead RBI single in the inning and Elgrim stretched the lead to 11-8 with a two-run single.

Sophomore Jackson Hinchcliffe snagged the win by pitching the third inning and sophomore John Goodes closed it out by allowing two runs - one earned - over the last four innings with three hits and a walk allowed to go with four strikeouts.

Tom Guidice, Max Graime and Anthony Mauro each went 2-for-4 for Manalapan, with Guidice and Graime each hitting a double and scoring a run. Guidice drove in three runs, Mauro knocked in two and Graime drove in one. Senior Joe Mazza also went 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI and senior Ethan Rodriguez was 1-for-2 with a double, run and an RBI for the Braves.