WEEKEND COUNTY TOURNAMENT WRAPUP

Perhaps the most amazing thing about this weekend's county tournaments wasn't Somerville's near-win over Montgomery, Bound Brook giving Bridgewater-Raritan a game, Voorhees' upset of Hackettstown, or even the fact that all but one of our local teams were eliminated from the Union County Tournament.

No, what I found most shocking was that with all the rain in the forecast, these games actually were played!

Joke's on you, Al Roker!! (insert sinister laugh here).


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SOMERSET COUNTY TOURNAMENT QUARTERFINALS


HILLSBOROUGH 6, RUTGERS PREP 1
Rutgers Prep did a good job getting here, but if anyone knows how to stay focused and knows how to win in this tournament it's Hillsborough. There's a reason the Raiders have played in six straight county finals.
As for the Argonauts, they're on their way. They're not quite there yet, but with a team with two ace pitchers that are both underclassmen, expect Rutgers Prep to be right in the thick of it in the years to come.


BRIDGEWATER-RARITAN 3, BOUND BROOK 0
Great job by 10th-seeded Bound Brook keeping this game competitive and making me look like a fool for insisting the Crusaders would get 10-runned.
It's clear that the Bound Brook offense is on par with any of those upper-division teams, and Bridgewater-Raritan coach Sandy Baranowski said she was very impressed with the Crusaders' offensive, and even defensive, effort.
Nothing against pitcher Courtney Wood who does a great job against most of Bound Brook's opponents and did a good job limiting the Panthers to just three runs Saturday, but I think we can all agree she's not quite at the level of the superstar-hurlers of the Delaware Division. Having a big-time pitcher is a necessity to win this tournament, something Bound Brook has not had since the days of Rachel Coddington and Heather Yarashas a decade ago.


MONTGOMERY 5, SOMERVILLE 4 (9 innings)
To the phantom poster who's become so fond of leaving "BEWARE OF THE 'VILLE" comments on the blog lately, this one goes out to you.
I'm not going to say Montgomery looked past Somerville, but I think it's safe to say the Cougars didn't expect this game to be this close and probably should have been a little more "aware" of the Pioneers.
Still, Montgomery found a way to survive and advance, setting up a very interesting semifinals matchup with Bridgewater-Raritan.


IMMACULATA 2, WATCHUNG HILLS 1 (10 innings)
This game reminded me of the 2000 SCT final between these two schools, where Immaculata's Erica Bell and Watchung Hills' Kacey Stewart locked in a fierce pitcher's duel on a cold, rainy day in Warren, only to have the game decided by an error, eerily similar to the botched pickoff attempt at third base that ended this one.
As I sat in the bleachers at a cold and wet North Branch Park on Saturday watching this one unfold, I was thankful I at least had a great game to watch as I tried to keep my hands from getting numb.
Hats off to Spartans ace Kaitlyn Piazzolla for staying focused and getting a whole bunch of big outs when she really needed it. But I was even more impressed with Warriors' senior Lydia deMartino who pitched a phenomenal game (17 strikeouts!), and would have won if not for that meddling Piazzolla in the bottom of the fourth inning (Scooby Doo is still on, right?). With Watchung up 1-0, deMartino made a near-perfect "pitcher's pitch," a beautiful fast ball on the outside corner at the knees, but Piazzolla did an amazing job of going down to get it and lined it over the right-center-field fence for a game-tying home run.


HUNTERDON/WARREN TOURNAMENT QUARTERFINALS


NORTH HUNTERDON 8, DELAWARE VALLEY 0
With North Hunterdon playing every bit as well as its top ranking in the Courier News Top 10 indicates, the Lions made short work of the rebuilding Terriers.


WARREN HILLS 4, BELVIDERE 1
I should have seen this coming.
While I acknowledged in my preview that Warren Hills could easily win this game, I picked Belvidere and I should have known better. The County Seaters have now lost four straight after a 10-0 start, while Warren Hills has continued its tournament run of the past couple of years. It was the Blue Streaks that upset North Hunterdon in last season's semifinals, and Warren Hills will have a chance to do it again Saturday.


VOORHEES 4, HACKETTSTOWN 2 (11 innings)
Here's an upset I picked right. I predicted good things for the Vikings coming into the season, and after some growing pains, things have seemed to gell for Voorhees. Last week's extra-innings affair with Bridgewater-Raritan was a good indication that the Vikings are finally clicking.


HUNTERDON CENTRAL vs. PHILLIPSBURG
This game will be played Monday at Central. If Phillipsburg wins, my next blog will be written from the ICU at Overlook Hospital.



UNION COUNTY TOURNAMENT FIRST ROUND


WESTFIELD 20, DAYTON 0
No shocker here. Westfield is still my pick to win the whole thing.

ROSELLE PARK 4, GOVERNOR LIVINGSTON 1
I'm a little surprised the Highlanders were eliminated, but not shocked by any means. GL and Roselle Park have a nice little rivalry going, and this is just another chapter.

A.L. JOHNSON 8, NEW PROVIDENCE 6
A valiant effort by New Providence, which has struggled of late. The Pioneers, who were devastated by graduation losses, had this one until an eight-run Crusaders fourth inning doomed New Providence.

RAHWAY 6, SCOTCH PLAINS-FANWOOD 4
Another upset I picked correctly, this one wasn't as close as the final score indicates, as the Raiders scored four in the bottom of the seventh to save a little face. It's been a tough couple of weeks for SPF since losing ace pitcher Brianna Mahoney to season-ending knee surgery, and this one stings.

CRANFORD 12, UNION CATHOLIC 2
Union Catholic never really had a prayer against the juggernaut Cougars.

LINDEN 2, BREARLEY 1
Closer than it should have been.

UNION 14, SUMMIT 0
I look forward to a Westfield-Union semifinal.

ROSELLE CATHOLIC 7, MOTHER SETON 6
Um, ok.



PROGRAMMING NOTES:

COMING TUESDAY: As Friday's cutoff for qualifying for the state tournament approaches, we'll take a look at who's in, who's out and who's on the bubble.

COMING WEDNESDAY: I will preview the Somerset County Tournament semifinals, complete with my picks. The top four teams have advanced, but will the rest of the tournament follow the chalk?

COMING THURSDAY: The sixth episode of the BATS and BALLS podcast will be recorded Wednesday night following the SCT semifinals and should be up Thursday in the early afternoon. We'll talk about the semis and look ahead to Saturday's final. We'll take a peek at the other tournaments, as well as get into the non-county tournament happenings on the baseball and softball fronts.

COMING FRIDAY: I'll preview and make my picks for the Hunterdon/Warren semifinals and Union County Tournament quarterfinals, as well as update the bubble teams as they make a last-minute dash toward qualifying for the state tournament

COMING SATURDAY: First, look for a big preview package on the Somerset County Tournament final in Saturday's VARSITY edition of the Courier News and online at http://www.mycentraljersey.com/, in addition to the regular softball notebook package.
Later that night, you will find complete coverage of the game right here on The Inner Circle. Due to the game's late start, there's little-to-no chance the game will make the newspaper, since your already insanely early deadlines are that much earlier on Saturdays. Obviously, I will be covering the 7:30 p.m. game in person, but I will hurry back to the office and get the game up on the blog ASAP. Figure around 10:00 p.m.