3 Ocean Teams, Manasquan Advance to Sectional Title Games

Point Pleasant Beach’s baseball team and the Toms River East, Central Regional and Manasquan softball teams all advanced to sectional title games with NJSIAA tournament victories on Tuesday.

The Garnet Gulls (15-6) put up three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to take the lead before beating Burlington City, 5-4, in the Central Jersey Group I semifinals. D.J. Pfefferkorn earned the victory for Point Beach.

On Friday the Gulls will host Florence, which defeated South River, in the Central Jersey Group I title game. Point Beach lost to Florence in its only other trip to the sectional final, in 2001.

Toms River East, the top seed in the South Jersey Group IV softball playoffs, scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth to take the lead and defeated Washington Township, 7-5, in Toms River.

Sarah Bencivenga was 3-for-4 and drove in two runs for the Raiders (25-2), who will host third-seeded Eastern on Friday for the sectional title.

In Berkeley, Stephanie Pepper struck out seven and Jessica Gilzow was 4-for-4 with a home run as Central Regional (18-3) defeated Delsea 7-1 in South Jersey Group III.

Central travels to top-seeded Kingsway, a 14-2 winner over Cumberland, for the title game on Thursday.

In Central Jersey Group III, Manasquan pounded out 14 runs to beat Northern Burlington, 14-4, in the softball sectional semifinals. Meredith Bryant was 5-for-5 and Keara Homan was 4-for-5 for the third-seeded Warriors (15-5).

Manasquan will host eighth-seeded Lawrence, which beat Neptune 1-0 on Tuesday, in the final.

In other NJSIAA softball results:

• Raritan (17-9) advanced in Central Jersey Group II with a 3-2 victory over Voorhees.
• Monsignor Donovan fell to Camden Catholic, 4-1, in the Non-Public South A quarterfinals.
• Barnegat fell to Buena, 6-0, in South Jersey Group II.

In the NJSIAA baseball tournament:

• Manasquan’s run in Central Jersey Group III came to an end at the hands of Monmouth Regional. The Warriors (10-15) were stymied by Falcons’ senior Luke Cahill, who struck out four and walked two.
• Toms River South (22-6) fell to second-seeded Cherokee, 5-1, in South Jersey Group IV as the Chiefs thwarted a potential rally when their center fielder caught a long fly ball off the bat of R.J. Devish to save what would have been a home run.
• Central Regional (9-12) took a one-run lead in South Jersey Group III, but Hammonton pounded out four runs in both the fifth and sixth innings for a 12-6 victory.
• In Central Jersey Group III, Freehold advanced to the sectional final with a 9-5 victory over fifth-seeded Hopewell Valley. The Colonials (16-12) will be playing in their first sectional final in 23 years.
• Manalapan overwhelmed Middletown South in Central Jersey Group IV, winning 12-2.
• Rumson fell to Robbinsville, 3-0, in Central Jersey Group II.