NEWS AND NOTES

I think I'm going to have to change my pick of the Somerville-Ridge county game. Ridge got spanked by Rutgers Prep 11-0 on Monday, and, well, that's not getting it done. I will post my official picks for all four SCT second-round games on Friday evening.

Scotch Plains-Fanwood has some serious adversity to overcome, as ace right-hander Briana Mahoney had knee surgery Monday morning and is out for the season. The Raiders' first game since the news was a win, but it did not go as smoothly as SPF fans might have hoped, an 18-16 victory over Elizabeth. That's right, Elizabeth. If the Minutemen can score 16 runs off Raiders pitching, imagine what's going to happen when SPF faces a good team.


TUESDAY'S SLATE
Two succulent Somerset County/Skyland Delaware East game on tap for Tuesday as Watchung Hills visits Immaculata in a possible SCT quarterfinals preview, while Montgomery heads to Bridgewater-Raritan for what could be a look ahead at the SCT semifinals. Both games will have an impact on the race for the conference title.

MORE COUNTY TOURNAMENT NEWS
Both the Hunterdon/Warren and Union County tournaments are scheduled to be seeded this week. Of course, I will post those seeds as soon as I get them with analysis and predictions soon to follow.

PODCAST: EPISODE 4
This week's BATS and BALLS podcast is slated to be recorded Tuesday night and should be up online sometime Wednesday afternoon.