Toms River East American's storybook run to a Little League World Series championship passed through Sayreville for the state tournament, where TREA captured its second state title in four years.

Toms River was one strike away from falling into the loser's bracket in their opening round win over Cherry Hill National. TREA trailed Cherry Hill 2-1 in the sixth inning, but began to manufacture a run on a walk, a wild pitch, and a sacrifice. With two outs and an 0-2 count on the TREA batter, Cherry Hill's pitcher uncorked a wild pitch that tied the game 2-2. In the seventh, RBI singles by Scott Fisher and Mike Belostock drove home a pair of runs to held TREA escape with the victory. In the other semifinal, Robert Niewenhous and Marc Nigro slammed three-run homers to lead Randolph past Clark 6-0. Three Randolph pitchers combined to throw a five-hit shutout.

In the winner's bracket finals, Toms River capitalized on ten walks and several fielding miscues to outslug Randolph 13-7. Randolph took an early 4-0 lead on Niewenhous' three-run homer in the first, but Toms River rallied back to score five runs with two outs in the second inning. Eric Campesi contributed a two-run single, and lead-off batter Todd Frazier added an RBI single.

In the third, Toms River scored five more runs to build a 10-4 lead. Four consecutive walks, a wild pitch, and Frazier's three-run homer contributed to the scoring. Randolph rallied to within 10-7, but Toms River again took advantage of wildness by Randolph's pitching staff, as four more consecutive walks and Chris Cardone's pinch-hit two-run single plated three runs and capped the scoring in TREA's 13-7 win.

Cherry Hill used four home runs to eliminate Clark, but Randolph then rallied from a 4-2 sixth inning deficit to beat Cherry Hill 5-4 in extra innings and gain a rematch with TREA in the state championship game.

Niewenhous, who was among the Randolph pitchers that struggled with control in TREA's 13-7 win earlier in the tournament, returned to the mound for the rematch. His teammates spotted him an early 3-0 lead, and Niewenhous escaped a based-loaded, no-out threat by in the second inning by striking out the side en route to a 3-2 victory.

Randolph built its early lead on a solo home run by Nigro (his third homer of the tourney), a run-scoring error, and an RBI double by Dave Kivett. Fisher, TREA's left-handed hurler, shut down Randolph without a hit after the first inning, but Niewenhous held Toms River's offense in check. TREA made the final tally close with a pair of fifth inning runs. Fisher tripled into the rightfield corner, Belostock singled, and after a walk, Tom Gannon doubled home the second run. Niewenhous escaped further damage by inducing an inning-ending grounder to second.

In the 'if' game, Toms River broke a scoreless tie with a third inning rally, and never looked back. Chris Crawford and Brad Frank opened the third with singles, and walks to Frazier and Fisher forced home the game's first run. After a pitching change, Belostock connected for a two-run single to build the lead, and Belostock later scored on an error to give TREA a 4-0 advantage. After Randolph plated a third inning run of their own, Toms River pulled away, as Frazier doubled home a run in the fourth, and Gabe Gardner blasted a solo home run in the fifth. TREA added another insurance run after a three-run Randolph rally that was highlighted by Vicaro's two-run homer.

Toms River took the long road to a Little League World Series championship. The Americans lost once in district, sectional, and state tournament competition, and fell twice at the Eastern Region tournament in Bristol, Connecticut. Only at the Little League World Series, where Toms River finished with a 5-0 record, did the club make it through a tournament undefeated.