GMCT set

The Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament seeds are out and Old Bridge received the top seed.

J.F. Kennedy and pitcher Heather Corica, who no-hit North Hunterdon for the Lions’ only loss, is the second seed, with Carteret seeded third and South Plainfield seeded fourth.

The tournament gets underway Wednesday with preliminary-round game, with the first round scheduled for Saturday at South Plainfield High School.

The quarterfinals will be back at South Plainfield on Wednesday, May 21, with the semifinals Saturday, May 24 and the final Monday, May 26 (Memorial Day).

The latter two rounds will be held at Middlesex County College.

Here are the preliminary-round matchups and first-round opponents (the top six seeds have a bye into the first round:

No. 17 North Brunswick at No. 16 Mother Seton, winner vs. No. 1 Old Bridge
No. 18 Spotswood at No. 15 Cardinal McCarrick, winner vs. No. 2 J.F. Kennedy
No. 19 Metuchen at No. 14 Woodbridge, winner vs. No. 3 Carteret
No. 20 Middlesex at No. 13 Sayreville, winner vs. No. 4 South Plainfield
No. 21 Piscataway at No. 12 Edison, winner vs. No. 5 East Brunswick
No. 22 South Amboy at No. 11 South Brunswick, winner vs. No. 6 Bishop Ahr

No. 23 Perth Amboy at No. 10 J.P. Stevens, winner vs. winner of No. 26 New Brunswick at No. 7 Colonia

No. 24 South River at No. 9 Monroe, winner vs. winner of No. 25 Perth Amboy Tech at No. 8 Dunellen.

I’m not going to pretend to be overly familiar with all of these GMC teams, so I’m not going to make picks, but here’s how it could play out for our area squads:

We have four local teams in this tournament: South Plainfield, Dunellen, Middlesex and Piscataway:

I do not expect Piscataway or Middlesex to get past their preliminary-round opponents, and while Dunellen should have little trouble with Perth Amboy Tech on Wednesday, the Destroyers’ second-round game against defending champion Monroe should signal the end of Dunellen’s tournament run.

South Plainfield should cruise though whatever team it draws Saturday (Middlesex or Sayreville), setting up a likely quarterfinal game with East Brunswick, which is an interesting matchup.

The Tigers have played way better than most people expected this season after being mauled by graduation losses, while the Bears are perennial GMC Red and Group IV contenders.

If the Tigers survive East Brunswick, South Plainfield would then likely play top-seeded Old Bridge, which is obviously going to be anything but easy.

A potential final against Carteret would be a good matchup for the Tigers, as those teams split their regular-season meetings, but a date with J.F. Kennedy is probably more likely and the Mustangs have already blanked South Plainfield twice this season -- 1-0 and 3-0.

That said, I think South Plainfield has a good a chance as any of the top five or six seeds to win this thing, but no matter who the Tigers face after the first two rounds, it won’t be easy.

South Plainfield played in the final last season, falling to Monroe 5-1, and also played in the championship game in 2003 and 2000, losing both times.
The Tigers have not won the title since 1998.