Revenge is a dish best served twice.

Middle Atlantic Regional champion Atlantic Shore, New Jersey lost two games in the National Division of the Babe Ruth 13-year-old World Series. Those losses came from the New England Regional champion Norwalk, Connecticut and Southeast Regional champion Tallahassee, Florida. In order to win the World Series, Atlantic Shore needed to right those wrongs and beat both teams — and that’s exactly what they did on Friday night and then Saturday afternoon to claim the title with a 10-7 win over Norwalk at Russell E. Diethrick Jr. Park.

“It’s unique that we played both those teams, they both beat us then we got them,” Atlantic Shore head coach Mike Gill said. “We played two different style of games and it made it for a fun opportunity to get back after losing the first ones.”

In Friday’s semifinal against Tallahassee, Atlantic Shore looked dominant with a 9-1 victory over the team that had beat them on Wednesday 8-1.

After the first inning against Norwalk it looked like Atlantic Shore was on the way to another emphatic victory, as it scored three runs off a bases-loaded triple by Will Hickman with two outs.

But it was not the same story as Friday night — the Norwalk squad showed it would not back down from adversity all tournament long and hitting through the lineup to match Atlantic Shore’s three runs showed they meant business.

“I’m just so proud of them, to do what we did was so impressive,” said Norwalk head coach Mike Hughes. “We’re definitely not the biggest team, but we have the most heart and if our comeback yesterday doesn’t speak for us I don’t know what does. They didn’t quit and they showed what we had.”

In the top of the second, Atlantic Shore put another run on the board to retake the lead, 4-3, but that would not be enough as Norwalk matched the three first-inning runs with another three in the second to go up 6-4, really putting the pressure on Atlantic Shore.

“Defense-wise, it was a little disappointing,” Hughes said about the first inning. “We wanted to come out and not give that many runs, because we knew we were short on arms. But the way we just bounced back… hitting is not our strong point — we got 12 hits and if you told me before the game we would get 12 hits and lose the game I would have been surprised.”

Norwalk’s first inning was highlighted by four singles, including a two-run single from Matt Weiss and an RBI single from Matt Vahle. In the second inning, two singles to start the frame by Dylan Izzi and Chase DePalma really put on the pressure. That was followed up by a fielder’s choice and an error that tied the game at 4-4, but Norwalk didn’t stop there. Norwalk’s biggest hit of the game came courtesy of a Vahle triple that knocked in two runners to give Norwalk the lead, 6-4.

After seeing Norwalk’s response to its big inning, Atlantic Shore returned the favor in the top of the third — once again with two outs. With runners on second and third, tournament MVP Colin Thompson stepped up to the plate and smacked one on the ground into right field, scoring Hickman and putting runners on first and third. John Franchini and Bernie Hargadon followed suit with the second and third singles in a row for Atlantic Shore to regain the lead at 7-6. The three-run inning led to a pitching change for Norwalk to get out of the inning without any further damage.

Atlantic Shore took note of Norwalk’s pitching change and did the same thing, bringing in Thompson to see if he could cool off the Norwalk bats. Thompson helped deliver the first scoreless half-inning of the game, maintaining the 7-6 lead for Atlantic Shore.

“We talked about being a part of a team and saying if it’s not your day it’s OK, and my pitcher said it’s not my day and that’s when we went to the bullpen,” Gill said about switching pitchers. “Thompson came in and then Baldwin and got the job done.”

Having cooled off the Norwalk offense, Atlantic Shore added to the lead — knowing insurance runs would be needed against Norwalk.

In the top of the fifth, Franchini and Hargadon came up big again with a couple RBIs. Franchini executed a suicide squeeze bunt that scored Aidan Ralph and then Hargadon laced a double into left field to score Thompson and Franchini, making it 10-6.

“That team just kept fighting, they were down yesterday 7-0 and just came back, so we knew they had another gear left in them,” Gill said about trying to stay in front of Norwalk. “I was proud that our guys didn’t take them for granted when we were up 3-0 thinking we got them, so I give them a lot of credit for fighting back and our guys a ton of credit for not allowing them to overtake us.”

The insurance proved useful as Norwalk scored one more run in the bottom half of the fifth. Konstantinos Panagiotidis doubled with one out and was later knocked in by Izzi, but that would be the final run of the game as Atlantic Shore locked it down defensively to win 10-7.

“It’s kind of surreal to be honest with you,” Gill said about winning the Babe Ruth World Series. “We’ve been close a bunch and for us to finally get that door down is pretty crazy. We’re just shocked and surreal, but we’ve worked extremely hard … it’s a perfect ending.”

NOTES: Hargadon and Vahle were named Ron Tellefsen Players of the Game for their respective teams. … Franchini, Hargadon and Hickman each had three RBIs. Thompson, Franchini, Hargadon and Aidan Ralph had two hits apiece. … Vahle had three RBIs and Weiss had two RBIs. Izzi, DePalma, Elvin Pascual and Vahle had two hits apiece.