By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Publisher TOMS RIVER — Players on the Holy Spirit baseball team meandered around the field at Toms River North High School after the initial celebration faded following their 9-4, state championship victory over Newark Academy on Saturday. Covered in dirt, sweat, smiles and tears, they didn’t quite know how to take it all in. What had just happened? The playoff darlings — the scrappy, never-say-die team led by a group of determined seniors and made up mostly of wide-eyed sophomores — had just tied a bow on the most historic playoff run in school history, capturing the first state title since 1982. How can you put an epic postseason run like that into words? “It’s just an awesome feeling. It’s surreal. I never thought in the beginning of the season, with the start we had, that we would make it this far,” said senior center fielder Anthony Boselli, who sparked the offense by going 2-for-4 with three RBIs, including a two-out, two-run triple in the top of the seventh that gave Holy Spirit a 9-1 cushion. “I just threw up my glove and tried to jump on the pile. It was a great experience.” “I just wanted to run in and jump on my guys and join the dog pile,” said senior left fielder A.J. Russo. “I really can’t (put it into words). It hasn’t sunken in yet. To do something for the first time in more than 30 years, it really feels amazing.” “There are really no words for it. Our pitchers, they just kept coming with it. They pitched, and we backed them up. They would pitch well and our hitters would just keep hitting and helping them out,” said junior first baseman Joe Hartley. “I have to give to our pitchers. They gave it a hell of an effort. I’m speechless right now. There are no words.” 
Holy Spirit catcher Matt Marczyk hugs pitching coach Jason Downey after the Spartans defeated Newark Academy on Saturday to win their first state championship since 1982. (Glory Days Magazine photos/Dave O’Sullivan) Said head coach Steve Normane, a former Rutgers University star who took over prior to the 2014 season for Bob Soifer, who had to step away from the game briefly due to medical reasons but returned as an assistant this season, “I’m exhausted. I think I walked about 10 miles in the dugout. To come from the position we were in at 1-7, where we knew we were better than our record but we had to show it, we got ourselves in gear and were able to make a run here at the end, which was our goal the whole time. It feels great. I feel great for these seniors. Our seniors are going out on top, which is the best reward we can give them for sticking with us all year.” The Spartans (14-16) lost the coin flip, allowing the Minutemen to be the home team and have the advantage in the seventh inning. But that strategy played right into Holy Spirit’s hands. A big key to the Spartan’s incredible playoff run has been jumping out early and getting a lead, and that formula held true against Newark Academy (19-13). The Spartans jumped all over the Minutemen, scoring three runs in the first and another in the third to bolt to a 4-1 lead. Tommy Burns was hit by a pitch to start the game, stole second and scored on an RBI single to left by Boselli. Chris Lefferts added a sacrifice fly to drive in Boselli following a pair of wild pitches and a walk to Matt Marczyk, and Nick Cordivari, running for Marczyk, scored on an error to make it 3-0. Newark Academy answered with a run in the bottom of the first, but a two-out RBI double by Nolan Charlton in the third pushed the lead to 4-1. Holy Spirit got some great defense, turning a 1-6-3 double play to end the third and nabbing a runner on a first-and-third steal situation to end the fourth in support of starting pitcher Billy Kral, a sophomore who won two of Holy Spirit’s five playoff games. Fellow sophomore Bobby Spicer got the victory in the other three games. “We executed a first-and-third, which we have been working on all year, we turned a double play. Everything was executed well, and that’s what we’ve been looking for. Pitch the ball well, throw strikes, use your defense. We had key hits, key hits from our seniors, and that’s what made that last inning easier,” Normane said. “Jules, I guess, doesn’t like things when they are easy, but he got the job done, as he always does. I’m just thrilled for this team. I wish we could keep on going and play 10 more games. I don’t want this group to go.” 
Sophomore Billy Kral allowed just one run through six innings to earn the win in the state championship game. “That was an amazing job by Billy,” Hartley said. “The last playoff game he pitched in he did really well and we had a lot of confidence in him coming in. We came to do one job, and that was to get a state title, and we came out with it.” Kral struggled with his command at times early in the game, but settled in and retired six of the last eight batters he faced before giving way to reliever Jules Massella in the seventh. “The Hammer” finished things off, but not before some tense moments for a large contingent of Spartans fans. Holy Spirit padded its lead by scoring five times in the seventh, highlighted by Boselli’s triple, a sacrifice fly from Russo and an RBI single by Tyler Knox. But the Minutemen didn’t go quietly, scoring three times in the bottom of the seventh to cut the deficit to 9-4 before Massella nailed down the state championship with a strikeout for the final out. “Billy pitched awesome today. I couldn’t be more proud of him and Bobby and Jules. Those three threw every inning for us in the postseason,” Normane said. “For Billy to step up the way he did today — he ran into a little bit of trouble there in the first but shut them down the rest of the way — that was great. He emptied the tank and gave us everything he had. He kind of epitomized our season. Rough start in the beginning but came on strong and was awesome at the end. I love that kid. I love them all.” “Billy and Spicer have been big this entire postseason. We have confidence in Billy. He’s a good pitcher even though he’s a sophomore. He kept us in it the whole time, and in the seventh inning we got a big lead,” Boselli said. “We all contributed today. It’s our senior year so we wanted to finish it off with a win. Not many people get the opportunity to do this.” The win capped off a completely dominating postseason performance by a team that at one point was in last place in the Cape-Atlantic League American Conference standings. The Spartans outscored their five playoff opponents 36-7. “In the beginning of the year, we started off 1-7. We had a real rough start, but we had confidence in our young players. The experience came along and we trusted our coaching staff,” Russo said. “Our pitchers really started coming along, Bobby and Billy. They really started developing experience in a short amount of time, and that Ocean City game (a one-run, midseason win) was really big for us. After that, we knew we actually had a chance to do something this season.” “Our coaches always backed us up,” Hartley said. “Coach Soifer, there were times when I was in a slump and he came out and worked with me. I have to thank him, personally, because he stayed with me all season. And I’m really happy for coach Normane, winning the first state title here in a really long time.” Boselli said it simply came down to finding ways to win. “It’s unreal. It’s been, what, 33 years since our last title? Nobody would have thought an under-.500 team would win it. But we found ways to win late in the season,” he said. “It’s a heck o
f a story. To win a state championship as an under-.500 team, I don’t know what the history books say about that, but I’m sure it hasn’t been done a lot. We’re proud of that, and we know at the end of the day — the ’82 championship team, I couldn’t tell you what their record was,” Normane said. “In 30 years no one is going to know our record. They are just going to see the banner in our gym that says ‘state champs.’ And that’s all that really matters. “Our seniors went out as winners, and as a coach, I can’t ask for anything more than that.” Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays [adsense]
Holy Spirit caps off incredible postseason run by winning first state championship since 1982
