Walt Mager, who had run the Tee Ball league in 1992, stepped up to be the event director, taking responsibility for arranging team housing, local transportation, and so forth. The League put out a souvenir journal for the tournament, and players were housed at vacant dormitories at Fairleigh Dickinson University (their Rutherford campus is now part of Felician University).
Come July, the district and section tournaments played out. Rutherford’s effort to place a team in the states fizzled when Rutherford National lost in its tournament opener, rallied to win four straight, but then lost three games shy of a district title. Lyndhurst National won District 5, but fell short in the section tournament at Belleville. That left Kenilworth as the closest entry to Rutherford, and they were proud to be there.
Meanwhile, excitement had started to build all over town, and all over the state. When Toms River won Section 3, the announcer shouted, “And Toms River is going to Rutherford!” They were joined by Sparta, from the northwest part of the state, and Nottingham, the defending regional champion, who had survived a 13-inning game against Pennsville in their section tournament to earn a return trip to the state finals.
(Historical note: Toms River Little League was one of two Little League programs that served Dover Township, which was renamed Toms River Township in 2006. The other league in town was Toms River East. Toms River East American won the East Region in 1995 and the Little League World Series in 1998. Meanwhile, the Toms River Little League has since split into American and National charters as the township has grown. Toms River American played in the 2010 10-year-old state finals that Rutherford hosted, while Toms River National went to the 12-year-old state finals in Hamilton the same year.)
The teams arrived in Rutherford Monday 2-Aug, and a gala banquet was held at the Landmark catering hall in East Rutherford. Over the next day, anticipation grew, until at 6:09 Tuesday afternoon, plate umpire Craig Yetman pointed to Sparta pitcher Mark Brocato and yelled, “Play ball!”
Game 1, Tuesday 3-Aug: Toms River 14, Sparta 5
Toms River wasted no time putting on their hitting shoes. John Martinez and George Serrano delivered singles, and then Jan Mazur homered to left center to give Toms River a 3-0 lead over Sparta. Mazur’s second three-run homer, in the second inning, made the score 7-0 and chased Brocato from the hill. Two batters later, Brian Clouser took reliever Justin Porcaro deep to center field to cap off a five-run inning. When Mazur and Clouser went yard yet again in the fourth, Porcaro’s day was complete. Toms River tacked on two more runs off Tim Sweeney in the sixth for good measure. Porcaro hit a two-run homer to get Sparta on the board in the second inning.
Game 2, Tuesday 3-Aug: Nottingham 5, Kenilworth 3
An RBI single by Clay Nixon and an RBI double by Ken Jones put Nottingham in front, 2-0, in the first inning, and hurler Frank Tanzini retired the first nine batters he faced. But Anthony Rotola led off the fourth with a single, and after Kenilworth pitcher Mark Armento drew a one-out walk, Jim Sweigart drilled a homer to left, putting Kenilworth ahead. Nottingham tied it in the fifth when Jones walked and scored on a wild pitch. In the sixth, Nick Argueta singled for Nottingham with one out, and then Tanzini won his own game by belting the ball over the wall in center field.
Game 3, Wednesday 4-Aug: Kenilworth 6, Sparta 2
Sparta took an early 2-0 lead with the help of two errors in the first inning, but Rotola homered to right-center to halve the margin in the bottom of the inning. Joe DeSimone singled in the fourth off Erik Collard, and Sweigart’s double knotted the score. Through four innings, Collard had thrown just 32 pitches, but he had no such luck in the fifth. With two out, Brian Molina drew a walk and went to second on a wild pitch. Sparta chose to intentionally walk Rotola to set up the force play, but DeSimone made them pay with a three-run homer just to the left of center field. Armento followed with a solo shot of his own.
Game 4, Wednesday 4-Aug: Toms River 3, Nottingham 1
Before the game, there was discussion among the Nottingham coaches whether to pitch to Jan Mazur, who had hit three homers against Sparta the day before. They decided Ken Jones was capable of holding him down. It didn’t happen in the first inning, though. After Martinez reached on an error and Serrano singled, Mazur drove a Jones offering about 275 feet down the left-field line for a 3-0 Toms River lead. Jones settled down after that – he even struck out Mazur twice – but all the Nottingham bats could muster off Mazur as a pitcher was a third-inning unearned run. Mazur finished with eight strikeouts and just three hits allowed, while Jones struck out eleven and walked none.
Game 5, Thursday 5-Aug: Nottingham 12, Kenilworth 1
After a scoreless first inning in this elimination game, Geoff Bigos caught up to Mark Armento for a home run that smashed off the scoreboard in left-center field. Nottingham built two more unearned runs in that inning, and then in the third, Brad Jenkins hit a grand slam to left, and Tanzini hit a three-run homer to right center, ending Armento’s day on the mound. Mark Dempsey went the rest of the way, giving up two unearned runs in the fifth, but all Kenilworth could muster off Nick Argueta in five innings was a lone run, scored by Anthony Rotola on a grounder by Armento.
Game 6, Saturday 7-Aug: Nottingham 13, Toms River 2
Rain washed out Friday’s scheduled first final and pushed it to early Saturday afternoon. When the game was finally played, errors proved costly for Toms River. Brian Clouser allowed no hits in three innings yet trailed 4-0 when he left the mound. Then Nottingham started reaching reliever Ricky Reineke, with Ryan Greaux delivering an RBI single and winning pitcher Frank Tanzini belting a three-run homer to center. Argueta added a two-run homer in the fifth. Jan Mazur came through with an RBI double for Toms River in the fifth inning, but his team trailed 10-0 before the hit.
Game 7, Saturday 7-Aug: Nottingham 5, Toms River 1
In the winner-take-all game Saturday evening, Ken Jones and Jan Mazur faced off again. In the bottom of the first, Jones issued Mazur the first of three “unintentional” walks. Mazur got the first out in the second and then walked Chris Talar, who went all the way to third on a grounder by Brad Jenkins. Brian McKitish then singled in Talar for the game’s first run. After Ryan Greaux drew a walk, Nick Argueta singled to make it 2-0, and then Tanzini went deep to right field to cap off a five-run inning. Mazur allowed no more runs after that, but aside from Mazur walking and scoring on a Clouser grounder to short, Toms River mustered no offense. Billy Leonard and John Martinez had the only hits Jones allowed, and Jones retired the last six batters he faced, striking out Chris Petito at 8:51 p.m. to close out Nottingham’s second straight state championship.