Toms River East Falls To PA; 2nd Chance At World Series Awaits

BRISTOL, CT — The Toms River East Little League team has a second chance to reach the Little League World Series when they play the Delaware state champions Friday night in the elimination final of the Mid-Atlantic Regional tournament in Bristol.

The New Jersey state champions suffered their first loss of their tournament run on Thursday, falling to the Pennsylvania state champions 6-1 in the Mid-Atlantic semifinal. The Pennsylvania team from Upper Providence Little League clinched a spot in the Little League World Series.

The game is set for 7 p.m. Friday and will be televised by ESPN.

Because the international teams are not traveling to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, for the Little League World Series this year, the top two teams from each regional tournament are receiving berths to the World Series.

Friday night's game between Toms River East and Delaware will determine which team will join Pennsylvania out of the Mid-Atlantic Region. The winner also gets to play Pennsylvania for the regional championship.

Toms River East no doubt wants another shot at Pennsylvania after Thursday night's game. The Upper Providence team was aggressive at the plate, swinging at the first pitch 14 out of 27 at-bats, and on the basepaths.

Pennsylvania took a 3-0 lead in the third inning thanks to aggressive baserunning on a couple of wild pitches and passed balls. It added a run in the fourth inning to go up 4-0, and tacked on two more in the top of the fifth.

Toms River East struggled to figure out Pennsylvania pitcher Jalen Bowman, but kept fighting. Carson Frazier opened the bottom of the sixth inning with a solo home run, and two batters later Cole Garrison doubled. But Bowman struck out the next two hitters to end the game.

Toms River East will be facing a Delaware team that it defeated 3-0 on Sunday in the opening game of the tournament. Delaware beat New York 7-0 on Tuesday and Washington, D.C., 14-1 on Wednesday to reach Friday's game.

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