Wait, what? Softball? Sure. The weather was nice the last few days so I reached out to some old friends. Lots of interesting stuff going on.Â
First, from what I can gather, there are new coaches at Cresskill (Jackie Vanore), Emerson (Nancy Graf), Leonia (Anthony Servis – still need a phone number for him), Mahwah (Craig Nielsen, who left Pascack Valley), Pascack Valley (Jessica Sachs) and St. Mary (Steve Mondadori)….and wait, how could I forget, West Milford (Nikki Gwinnett).
There may be one or two more that have slipped my grasp over the last few months. If so, feel free to let me know.
Also, looks like the Bergen County Tournament will start and end considerably later this year. The state finals are again the second weekend in June (June 9th), so now the county tournament will run a little bit more in line with the State Tournament. Remember, there was growing sentiment that with Bergen ending its tournament so early, it was hurting teams that played deep in the State Tournament.
So anyway, the Bergen seeding meeting looks like it will be May 2nd. And it also looks like there will be play-in games on Saturday, May 5th. What does this mean? Well, the way it was explained to me was, the tournament wants to encourage everyone to apply and get in. And now, if there are say, 36 teams that apply, all 36 will be seeded and get in and on the 5th, team 36 will play team 29, 35 vs. 30, 34 vs. 31, 33-32. This means that these (I hate to say it) bottom teams still have a chance to win a game in the tournament.
Plus, here is the kicker….the State tournament cut-off is May 11th this year, which means that a win/loss in the county tournament may not hurt you as much. I love this idea. Every team that wants to play in the tournament should be able to.
Ok, so, the Round of 32 (for lack of a better name) will be May 12th, May 19th is the Sweet 16, May 26th is the Quarterfinals at IHA, Sunday the 27th is the semis, and Saturday, June 2nd is the finals at a place and time to be announced.
So in the meantime of course, they will be countless other tournaments in April and even some in May. This schedule is about 90 percent complete, I don’t have info on the annual Clifton Classic or Blue and Gold at Pequannock. Not even sure either school will have a tournament this spring.
Also, looks like the Friends of Sara in Wallington will not return, and neither will the DeBlasio Tournament. Both for various reasons.
One last thing before I show the tournament schedule, the Holy Angels “Last Chance Tournament” doesn’t have teams or times listed. Its an open event…..its perfect for teams looking to play some competitive games and maybe get a few wins to help with county/state tournament seeding. To get involved in that one, call Patti Gorsuch at Holy Angels at 201-768-7822 x222.
Saturday, April 7
North vs. South at IHA
IHA vs. Middletown South, 9:30 p.m.
Mt. St. Dominic vs. St. John Vianney, 11:30 a.m.
Indian Hills vs. Raritan, 1:30 p.m.
Pequannock vs. Toms River East, 3:30 p.m.
Saturday, April 14
Dondero Tournament at Back Beach
Manchester vs. Passaic, noon
Passaic Tech. Hawthorne Christian, 2:30 p.m.
DePaul vs. Wayne Valley, 2:30 p.m.
Pompton Lakes vs. Eastern Christian, 5 p.m.
Wayne Hills vs. Hawthorne, 5 p.m.
Passaic Valley vs. Clifton, 7:30 p.m.
Lakeland vs. West Milford, 7:30 p.m.
Mountain Lion Invitational at Mount St. Dominic (2 fields)
IHA vs. Pennsbury (Pa.), 8:30 a.m.
St. John Vianney vs. Immaculate Conception, 8:30 a.m.
Mt. St. Dominic vs. Toms River East, 10:30 a.m.
Pequannock vs. Caravel (Del.), 10:30 a.m.
IHA vs. St. John Vianney, 12:30 p.m.
Immaculate Conception vs. Pennsbury, 12:30 p.m.
Mt. St. Dominic vs. Pequannock, 2:30 p.m.
Caravel (Del.) vs. Toms River East, 2:30
Raritan vs. Livingston, 4:30 p.m.
Emerson/EDSAF
Bergenfield vs. Secaucus, 10 a.m.
Old Tappan vs. River Dell, noon
Westwood vs. Cresskill, 2 p.m.
Fair Lawn vs. Park Ridge, 4 p.m
Sunday, April 15
Emerson/EDSAF
Saddle Brook vs. Northern Highlands, 10:30 a.m.
Indian Hills vs. Ridgewood, noon
St. Mary vs. West Essex, 1:30 p.m.
Demarest vs. Emerson, 3 p.m.
Saturday, April 21
Blake Tournament
Northern Highlands vs. Holy Angels, 9 a.m.
Indian Hills vs. Rutherford, 11 a.m.
Ramapo vs. Pascack Valley, 1 p.m.
Bergenfield vs. Emerson, 3 p.m.
Donna Ricker Tournament at Wood-Ridge
Ridgewood vs. Immaculate Conception, 9:30 a.m.
Saddle Brook vs. Bergen Tech, 11:30 a.m.
Elmwood Park vs. Wood-Ridge, 1:30 p.m.
St. Mary vs. Cresskill, 3:30 p.m.
Coaches vs. Cancer at Overpeck Park, times TBA
Dwight-Englewood vs. Bogota
River Dell vs. Saddle Brook
Ft. Lee vs. Lyndhurst
Old Tappan vs. Fair Lawn
Ridgefield Park vs. Becton
Saturday, April 28
John Czeterko Highwaywomen Classic
Teaneck vs. Queen of Peace, 11 a.m.
Ridgefield vs. Princeton, 11 a.m.
Winners, 1:30 p.m.
Third place game, 1:30 p.m.
Last Chance Tournament at Holy Angels
Teams, Times, TBA
Sunday, April 29
Lady Owl Classic (2 fields)
On HS field
Bergenfield vs. Park Ridge, 11 a.m.
Ramsey vs. Paramus, 1 p.m.
Nutley vs. IHA, 3 p.m.
On turf field
Immaculate Conception vs. Midland Park, 1 p.m.
Ramapo vs. Emerson, 3 p.m.
Last Chance Tournament at Holy Angels
Teams, Times, TBA
Saturday, May 5
Saddle Brook Tournament
Saddle Brook vs. Ramapo, 2:30 p.m.
Paramus vs. Indian Hills, 4:30 p.m.
Sunday, May 6
Saddle Brook Tournament
Rutherford vs. Paramus Catholic, noon
IHA vs. Immaculate Conception, 2 p.m.
Ramsey vs. Midland Park, 4 p.m.
Coaches HR Derby, 6 p.m.
Hmm, so now, if you have read this far (and can’t wait to see a coaches HR derby like me) you may be saying, wait, who is No. 1 this season? Well, I am not in charge of that anymore – maybe I should start doing my own poll, just kidding – but its the usual suspects, Pequannock, IHA, Indian Hills, Immaculate Conception I think will be really good. I still love Paramus Catholic, Ramapo is going to be up a notch, never count out Ridgewood….
Well, any thoughts or comments, you know what to do.