For the second consecutive year, I am thrilled to be calling Little League's Intermediate 50/70 Baseball World Series July 30-August 6! This is not the 12-year-olds you see on TV in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, every year, but kids one year older, playing on a slightly bigger field (50-foot pitching distance, 70-foot basepaths) in Livermore, California. It's a different vibe than Williamsport, but extremely cool nonetheless, and it was really special for me to call the 2022 tournament, including the championship game on ESPN2.
So leading up to the 2023 Intermediate 50/70 World Series, which will air entirely on ESPN+, I want to introduce each of the competing teams with whatever information I've been able to glean on their path to Livermore (and to your ESPN+ screen!).
Toms River East, New Jersey
Toms River East Little League
Location:
Toms River, New Jersey
Championships:
NJ District 18
NJ Section 3
New Jersey state
East Region
Record: 13-0
Date Qualified: July 25
Noteworthy:
2nd straight appearance at Intermediate World Series (3rd U.S. team to do so as regional champ)
Coaches:
Mike Mendes, Ed Todaro, George Gallagher
Toms River is a big deal in baseball circles. It was the site of the New Jersey high school baseball championships for years, and its Little League programs put the town on the international map years ago.
Toms River East was known as the Beast of the East en route to the 1998 Little League World Series championship and went right back to Williamsport in 1999 as part of winning three state championships in five years. After crosstown rival Toms River Little League picked up the mantle in the 2000s, reaching Williamsport in 2010, Toms River East returned to Williamsport as Mid-Atlantic Region runner-up in the U.S.-only LLWS of 2021.
Those players then qualified for Livermore as 13-year-olds in 2022, which may have set the table for this age group, even with no player crossover, to enter this year's 50/70 qualifying.
This Toms River East team has dealt with some close calls, notably the New Jersey winners' bracket final against Nutley (the last non-TRE team to win the 50/70 East title back in 2019), the state final against Stafford (a 1-0 win), and the regional final against Lower Merion, Pennsylvania (a 4-3 win).
But with all due respect to Tuesday's title-clincher, the biggest win was Sunday's extra-inning thriller against Massapequa Coast, New York. The same teams played twice at the 12-year-old Metro Region tournament last year, with Massapequa Coast winning both, once in extra innings and the second via no-hitter to advance to Williamsport. So these Toms River East 13-year-olds had to be slaying some emotional demons when they wiggled out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the 7th and ultimately beat Massapequa Coast 4-3 in 9 innings to reach the East final.
Last year's TRE team played back-to-back 11-10 thrillers in Livermore before bowing out against Hawaii. This year's team will be hoping for lower-scoring games to keep its pitching on schedule. Unlike many of its World Series opponents, TRE has not played on three consecutive days this summer, so winning their Monday night opener will be critical.
| Road to Livermore | |||
| New Jersey District 18 | |||
| June 22 | Barnegat | W | 10-0 |
| June 24 | Beachwood (winners' final) | W | 3-0 |
| June 25 | Beachwood (final) | W | 13-5 |
| New Jersey Section 3 | |||
| July 3 | Lincroft | W | 11-1 |
| July 5 | Princeton (winners' final) | W | 20-3 |
| July 7 | Lincroft (final) | W | 6-1 |
| New Jersey state | |||
| July 12 | Stafford | W | 7-0 |
| July 13 | Nutley East / American (winners' final) | W | 3-2 |
| July 15 | Stafford (final) | W | 1-0 |
| East Region | |||
| July 20 | Lower Merion, PA | W | 12-2 |
| July 22 | Hingham, MA | W | 12-2 |
| July 23 | Massapequa Coast, NY (winners' final) | W | 4-3 (9 inn.) |
| July 25 | Lower Merion, PA (final) | W | 4-3 |
| Intermediate Baseball World Series | |||
| July 31 | Southeast / CA 57 | 12noon PT | |
| TBD | TBD | TBD | |
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