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NJ Little League Section 3 Tournament: What to know

The Jersey Shore will have three teams participating in the upcoming Section 3 Little League tournament.

Ryan Ross and Sherlon Christie, Asbury Park Press

TINTON FALLS –  A two-strike, two-out situation with runners on the corners didn’t faze Dominic Golembieski in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Instead, he calmly hit a line drive to right field. The ball was misplayed for a couple of seconds and that allowed the go-ahead run to score from first.

It was the momentum shift that the Tinton Falls 12-year-old Little League All-Stars needed after giving up the first run of the game in the top of the fourth inning.

Combined with the solid pitching performances from starter Finnbar Dufficy and reliever Jonathan Basile, the hit vaulted the Tinton Falls Little League team to a 2-1 win over a tough Two River West squad in the championship game of the District 19 Tournament on Thursday night.

“What a clutch hit at a clutch time with two strikes on him. He just put the ball in play,” Tinton Falls manager Tim Minafo said. “That’s all we work on is hitting line drives. And this kid did what he had to do.”

It secured Tinton Falls’ first District 19 title at the 12-year-old division since 2002.

Bracket: Little League: 2021 District 19 All-Star Tournament schedule, results

Two River West in the top of the fourth broke through first. Brady Lepore was at the plate with runners on second and third after a wild pitch put both runners in scoring position. Lepore’s at-bat concluded with a dropped third strike situation and he ran toward first base. Lepore was called out at first base. But as soon as the throw went to first base, the runner on third base dashed to the plate for a 1-0 Two River West lead.

“Throughout this whole tournament (District 19), teams counted us out,” Minafo said. “We believed in these kids. They believed in themselves and that’s why we won today.”

Bracket: Little League: 2021 Section 3 All-Star Tournament schedule, results

It took a near complete game, 88-pitch effort from Dufficy, who finished with nine strikeouts in five and two-thirds innings. He struck out his last batter on a called third strike and had to leave the game because he surpassed his 85-pitch limit. Basile came to the mound and walked the first batter he saw on four pitches before he redeemed himself by striking out the next batter on a full count.

That set the stage for a dramatic bottom of the fourth when Tinton Falls sent six batters to the plate and scored two runs on two hits and an error.

Game Story: NJ Little League: Two River West ‘must-win attitude’ extends season

“The whole momentum changed. Once the boys saw that hit (by Golembieski), the whole momentum changed and it put us right on top,” Minafo said. “And that’s when I knew…these kids weren’t giving up.”

You could say the same for Two River West starter Joe Henry, who threw a 78-pitch complete game with eight strikeouts. But ultimately, Tinton Falls would prevail for the second time against Two River West during the District 19 tournament. Tinton Falls knocked Two River West into the loser’s bracket with a 1-0 win July 10 in the winner’s bracket final and then eliminated Two River West with Thursday night’s performance.

Next up, Tinton Falls will advance to the Section 3 tournament in Hamilton, N.J. Tinton Falls will face the Game 1 winner (Sunnybrae or Milltown) on Monday, July 19 at 6 p.m.

Sherlon Christie is a sports reporter at the Asbury Park Press and has covered sports at the Jersey Shore since 2004. Don’t miss any of his coverage by subscribing at https://subscribe.app.com/. You can contact him via e-mail at [email protected], on Twitter at https://twitter.com/sherlonapp, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/sherlonapp and on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/sherlon_christie

Source: Asbury Park

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