While many of us will have our attention focused on Saturday night’s Somerset County Tournament final, there are still two other tournaments in action this weekend.
Here’s a look, complete with pick:
HUNTERDON/WARREN TOURNAMENT SEMIFINALS
NO. 4 SEED VOORHEES at NO. 1 SEED HUNTERDON CENTRAL
12 p.m. Saturday at Central
The Vikings pulled off a nice little upset of Hackettstown in the quarters, and after losing to Warren Hills in a regular-season tilt Tuesday, came back and beat Immaculata 3-0 Thursday to qualify for the state tournament.
Enjoy it, Voorhees, because you’re about to see the difference between Imamculata and Hunterdon Central
MY PICK: Hunterdon Central 5-1
NO. 6 SEED WARREN HILLS at NO. 2 SEED NORTH HUNTERDON
1 p.m. Saturday at North
Warren Hills shocked North in last season’s semifinals, but I cannot see that happening again. The Lions’ only loss has been to J.F. Kennedy’s Heather Corica, who might just be the best pitcher in the state this season. This one could be ugly.
MY PICK: North Hunterdon 9-0
UNION COUNTY TOURNAMENT QUARTERFINALS
All games scheduled for 10:30 a.m. (subject to change)
NO. 10 ROSELLE PARK at NO. 2 WESTFIELD
The Blue Devils are the only remaining local squad left in this tournament, and after a 7-0 loss to South Plainfield on Tuesday – just the third loss of the season for Westfield -- the Blue Devils are itching to get back on track.
The Panthers are no pushovers, but if the Blue Devils play like they’re capable, I don’t see them having too much trouble here.
MY PICK: Westfield 6-2
NO. 9 ROSELLE CATHOLIC at NO. 1 CRANFORD
Say goodnight, Lions.
MY PICK: Cranford 11-0
NO. 5 A.L. JOHNSON at NO. 4 LINDEN
I don’t expect this one to be as close as most 4-5 games tend to be. Linden plays in a fairly weak Watchung Conference where Westfield is the only real powerhouse, while the Crusaders have been through the wars in the Mountain Valley Conference Mountain Division.
I wouldn’t rule out a Linden win, but I don’t see it.
MY PICK: A.L. Johnson 7-2
NO. 11 RAHWAY at NO. 3 UNION
Some might say the Rahway mascot, the Indians, is offensive. I think the people in southeast Union County might find the outcome of this one even more off-putting.
MY PICK: Union 8-0
**
PROGRAMMING NOTES:
PODCAST NEWS
The sixth edition of the BATS and BALLS podcast, believe it or not, was actually recorded Wednesday night. I swear. Don’t ask me why as of Thursday evening at 11:30 p.m. it still hasn’t been posted on MyCentralJersey.com.
I hope to remedy that tomorrow morning.
COMING SATURDAY
We’re going all out with a preview of the Somerset County Tournament final. Make sure to pick up Saturday’s edition of the Courier News and check out the package in the VARSITY section. The preview should also be available online at MyCentralJersey.com.
Also in Saturday’s VARSITY, the regular weekly softball notebook will be out, complete with the latest Athlete Spotlight, standings, a look at who’s in and who’s out of the state tournament and a new Top 10, which features a few shakeups.
COMING SATURDAY NIGHT
Game time for the SCT final is 7:30 p.m. at North Branch Park, meaning the best-case scenario is that it will end at around 8:45.
Too bad the Courier News’ deadline is about 8:10.
But don’t fret; we will have complete coverage of the game online at MyCentralJersey.com. A full game story should be posted about an hour or so after the game ends, and, of course, I will check in here on The Inner Circle after the game with a score and a brief recap.
SI hope to see you all out in Branchburg. I’ll be the good-looking guy, more than likely wearing a Mets cap, sitting at the press table behind the backstop. Feel free to drop by and say hello -- or just rip me for picking against your team.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
Simeon you need to get out more. The best pitcher in the state is Brittney Odonell from Red Bank Catholic
I never said she wasn't.
That's why we journalistic types use qualifyers like "could be," "arguably," and "just might be," like I did when refering to Corica.
I haven't seen the RBC pitcher, but I've heard good things.
And you're right, I definitely need to get out more. These long days are starting to add up.
I haven't gotten home before 2am all week.
my bad i jumped the gun.
Simeon it looks like you're going to get some time off with this rain coming in for the weekend.
Friday's games are a washout, though, ironically, I had a scheduled day off today that I planned on taking anyway, so no help there.
I'm hoping all Saturday's stuff gets played. I hate when stuff gets postponed. Plus I'm supposed to be off Sunday and I don't think my mother or my siblings would be too pleased if I had to bail on dinner on Mother's Day to go cover the SCT final.
Nice pick on the Central game Simeon. Saw you smile when it ended 5-1
Post a Comment