Little League: What are your best memories of Jersey Shore World Series teams?
Prior to 2021, six teams from the Jersey Shore have made it to the Little League World Series.
But how do those teams stack up against the best Little League teams of all-time from New Jersey?
The Asbury Park Press wants to hear about your memories from Little League All-Star Tournaments – from the districts all the way to the World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
Check out the following summaries of the all-time list of Jersey Shore’s Little League World Series participants, then tell us on Facebook, Twitter or by email what you think of these Jersey Shore teams.
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Can Toms River East Little League, this year's New Jersey state champion and Mid-Atlantic Region runner up, be the Jersey Shore’s next great team to advance deep into the Little League World Series?
The 12-year-old All-Stars from Toms River start their quest at the 2021 Little League World Series on Thursday, August 19 at 5 p.m. on ESPN.
So, here is a breakdown of the seven Jersey Shore teams (five from Toms River, one from Lakewood and one from Jackson) that have reached the Little League World Series.
ALL-TIME LITTLE LEAGUE WORLD SERIES PARTICIPANTS FROM THE JERSEY SHORE
1975: Lakewood
This was the 29th Little League World Series but only four teams, all from the United States, participated (Northridge, CA, Tampa, FL, Davenport, IA and Lakewood, NJ.). According to a story in the Chicago Tribune in 2015, “Taiwan and other foreign teams were suspected of skirting residency restrictions and Little League banned foreign teams from reaching the World Series for a year while it worked to strengthen rules against year-round practices and out-of-district players." Nevertheless, Lakewood had an undefeated season, completed a 17-game winning streak, which led to the Little League World Series Title. Lakewood defeated Belmont Heights of Tampa, FL, 4-3, in the LLWS championship game as Lakewood’s Bobby DelConte tossed a one-hitter in that game. DelConte was a participant in a 1-2 pitching combination that Lakewood had that year, which included Dion Lowe, who was also a dominating pitcher. Lakewood became the first Jersey Shore team to ever win the Little League World Series.
1995: Toms River East American
You knew this Toms River East American team was headed to summer greatness when it won seven straight games after a loss in the District 18 tournament that year. That type of momentum carried Toms River East American to a lot of success that season. At the Little League World Series, Toms River East American had a heartbreaking, 11-10, lost to Texas in the first pool play game before defeating Minnesota, 11-4, and finishing up their Williamsport experience with an 8-3 loss to California that year. Toms River East American finished with a 1-2 record in pool play. That year, only four teams from the United States and only four International teams were in the LLWS and they played three pool play games each. The two best teams in each pool, U.S and International, advanced to the elimination round. Little League now has eight regions for both the United States and the International pools. Jeff Frazier, who played on this 1995 Little League World Series squad, made it to the major leagues with the Detroit Tigers in 2010. That 1995 Toms River East American team also featured Colin Gaynor, Jeremy Dandorph, Danny Gallagher, Chris Cerullo and other talented players.
1998: Toms River East American
The nickname of this version of the Toms River East American squad is legendary, “The Beast from the East.” This team became America’s heartbeat by winning the 1998 Little League World Series with a 12-9 win over Japan. According to the 2012 LLWS Media Guide and the 1999 Baseball Almanac, Toms River East American set a then LLWS record with 38 walks during their 1998 run. In that LLWS finale, there were 11 home runs, which was a record at the time, and Toms River East American had stars like Todd Frazier, who went 4 for 4 with three runs scored, Casey Gaynor, who went 3 for 3, with two runs scored, three RBI, Scott Fisher (two run home runs) and Chris Cardone (two home runs). Toms River East American became the second Jersey Shore team to ever win the Little League World Series.
PHOTOS: A look back with Todd Frazier as a 1998 Little League World Champion
1999: Toms River East American
Despite only having two players back from the 1998 team, Toms River East American continued its strong tradition of Little League Baseball by making it to the Little League World Series for the third time in five years. Toms River East American became only the third United States defending champion (at that time in 1999) to make it back to the Little League World Series. The Ocean County squad went 3-0 in the four-team U.S. Pool Play bracket with wins over the South, West and Central Region champions that year. They defeated those aforementioned opponents by a combined score of 13-1 over those three games. Toms River East American then lost, 3-2, to Phenix City, AL, in the U.S. Championship game. This squad was led by pitcher Casey Gaynor, in addition to Eric Campesi. Gaynor and Campesi were the two remaining players from the 1998 Little League World Series Title team.
2010: Toms River National
You want to learn about determination, speak to the players and managers from the Toms River National squad from 2010. At one point during its remarkable summer, Toms River National won an incredible 10 straight elimination games, before going 1-2 overall in the Little League World Series and not surviving the pool play format that year with an 0-2 record. Toms River National also hit over 80 home runs during that summer and they were one of New Jersey's best power hitting teams. However, you don’t win that many games with your “back to the wall” without a lot of talent and Toms River National had a long list of stars like Joey Rose, Jonathan Giordano, Patrick Marinaccio, Michael Tiplady, Jeff Ciervo, Kevin Blum, Billy Lumi, Zach Burns, etc.
2017: Holbrook
This Jackson-based Little League team captured the hearts of fans from New Jersey and beyond with their summer to remember, which featured their incredible run to the semifinals of the United States bracket of the Little League World Series on August 23, 2017. Holbrook may have lost, 12-2, to Fairfield American Little League to end its run in the Little League World Series that year but this team had it all from great pitching (Garret Drew, Tai Mann, Chris Andrews, Chris Cartnick, etc), to power hitting (Drew, Mann, Cartnick, R.J. Vashey, J.R. Osmond, Anthony Abbonizio, etc) to superior defense, which allowed this group of 12-year-old All-Stars to win a lot of games and sometimes by big margins due to the power they possessed in their arms and bats.
2021: Toms River East
Pick a new nickname: "The Beast from the East 2.0", "The Baby Beasts", "The Beast is Back," "The Beast Boys," etc. The children of some of the Toms River East American stars from mid-to-late 90s are chartering their own journey in the 2021 Little League World Series, which began on August 19 for this year's squad. The roster featured: Steven Malato, Joey DiMeo, Carson Frazier, Jason Verderrosa, Cole Garrison, Christopher Tennaro, Dominic Roma, Max Mika, Dominik Sabatino, Thomas Intintola, Cailen Cimorelli, Jalen McLean and Adrian Bilotti. The coaches were Paddy Matera and Barry Intintola and their manager was Paul Mika.
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 schristie@gannettnj.com, 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
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Little League: What are your best memories of Jersey Shore World Series teams?
