LAKEWOOD – Toms River North senior ace Jared Bellissimo was on a mission and he was not going to be denied..jpg)
Holding a 4-0 lead over Central in the bottom of the sixth of the Shore Conference Tournament championship game, the 6-foot-1 lefty loaded the bases bringing the tying run to the plate with only one out.
Through his five scoreless innings Bellissimo’s out-pitch had been his fastball, so with the game on the line he reared back and blew away seniors Vance Pelino and Tyler Aires with some vicious heat to retire the side and preserve the shutout.
The normally composed Bellissimo let out a yell and pumped his fist in a rare display of emotion that communicated the enormity of the situation.
“I wanted to attack with my fastball,” Bellissimo said. “I wanted to go straight after them with my fastball and I felt I could throw it by them.”
Bellissimo ended up tossing a complete-game four-hitter, striking out 11 and walking two to lead the eighth-seeded Mariners to a 4-0 win over 11th-seeded Central, capturing their second straight Shore Conference Tournament title..jpg)
At the plate he had a two-run double in the bottom of the fifth pushing the lead to 4-0, essentially putting the game out of reach.
“It felt amazing; I wouldn’t want it to end any other way,” Bellissimo said. “My arm felt great today and the team played great behind me. This game meant everything to the seniors because we’ve been playing together since we were little kids. There was no way we wanted this to end with a loss together.”
The win marked the Mariners’ (22-8) fourth overall SCT title in program history and third in the last six seasons and they became the fourth school in the 39-year history of the SCT to win consecutive SCT titles.
In a landmark year for Toms River North, they also won three championships in the same season for the first time in their history. Earlier this season they won the Ocean County Tournament championship and shared a piece of the Shore Conference Class A South title with Jackson Memorial, who eliminated the Mariners from the NJSIAA South Group IV playoffs and went on to win the sectional title..jpg)
“We’re going out on top,” the Rutgers-bound Bellissimo said. “It’s never been done before in Toms River North history winning three championships in one year and we did it tonight. Our coaches have been talking about all week.”
The Mariners took a quick 1-0 lead in the first inning when senior Craig Larsen was hit by a pitch and eventually came around to score on a two-out Justin Schaff RBI single.
They added another run in the bottom of the second when junior Sam Angelo drilled a double over the head of Tyler Aires in right field and scored on an RBI single to center by sophomore left fielder Robert Jeans.
In the fifth, Larsen started the rally lofting a long fly ball that looked like it might go out, but one-hopped the fence in left-centerfield instead for a double, and advanced to third on a single by senior Alex Klalo. Bellissimo then blasted a first-pitch offering from Central starting pitcher A.J. Smith into dead centerfield for a two-run double and a 4-0 lead.
“My swing felt pretty good tonight and I was just missing on my first two at-bats,” Bellissimo said. “I knew I was getting a first-pitch curveball because that’s what he threw to me my first two at-bats. I wanted to get a hold of it; I knew it was coming and I wanted to put a good swing on it.”
Bellissimo, who improved to 8-1 on the year, threw 106 pitches and struck out at least one batter in every inning, but it was in the sixth where he earned his stripes.
He walked Ryan Gallati leading off the sixth on four pitches with one out before senior shortstop Colin Stacy dropped a double down the left-field line putting runners at second and third with Central’s top hitter coming to the plate.
Senior slugger Tom Ruscitti, who leads the Shore Conference with 10 home runs, was up next, prompting a visit to the mound by Mariners head coach Andy Pagano for a little chat.
“He is at his best when times are toughest,” Pagano said. “He rises to the occasion. When I went out there, he told me to not even come out and that he had it. That’s why my visit was pretty quick.”
“He (Pagano) told me he had all the confidence in the world in me and he wasn’t taking me out and that it was on me,” Bellissimo said.
Bellissimo pitched Ruscitti very carefully, not giving him anything he could get a hold of and eventually walked him to load the bases.
And the rest is history with Bellissimo repaying his coach’s confidence in him by retiring the next five batters he faced to close out the game.
“This group is irreplaceable,” Pagano said of his senior class. “The depth on the mound, the competiveness, the camaraderie. Hopefully our young guys can learn from all of that because (the seniors) are going to be tough to replace. They’re going to go on to have good college careers and be successful adults, but they will always be Mariners and when they come back this will be something they will remember.”
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