SCT seeding will look very different from a year ago, but will the final four?

The Somerset County Tournament in baseball is difficult to predict.

The biggest factor in the event is not a pitcher, not a hitter, and not a coach. It’s TD Bank Ballpark in Bridgewater, the home of the Somerset Patriots.

That’s where the county holds the SCT semifinals and finals, as well it should. It’s a beautiful ballpark, for years “the Jewel of the Atlantic League.” And it’s still among the best in the Eastern League now that the Patriots are a Yankees AA affiliate.

The SCIAA is at the mercy of the minor league team’s schedule, which is why the semifinals are as early as April 27th – not even a month into the season – and the finals aren’t until May 9th, twelve days later.

But for four teams to play in a professional park like that? It’s a fair trade-off.

That said, it’s why the SCT will be seeded as early as this coming Monday night, two weeks to the day after Opening Day. Not a lot of baseball has been played yet, and after a shortened preseason, too – due to NJSIAA changes to the year-long scholastic sports calendar – getting a real feel for the 14 teams that will be competing may be difficult.

Who’s No. 1??

All that said, there should be no doubt at the moment who gets the top overall seed, but since the semifinals and finals are at neutral sites – other than being designated the home team – there’s not much home field advantage involved. Being in the top four, though, gets you a bye to the quarterfinals, where those top four teams will host.

Bridgewater-Raritan (6-1) and Ridge (4-2) are widely considered the top two teams in the league. And to paraphrase what one coach told us recently: it’s them, and everybody else. But the Panthers should easily be the top seed. They had two statement wins this week, beating Ridge 3-0 and Hunterdon Central 4-2 this past week, while Ridge’s other loss came to Central. Just on head-to-head, it should easily go to the Panthers. But Ridge should likely be No. 2.

Last year, Ridge was the top seed, followed by Somerville, Montgomery and Bridgewater-Raritan. Only Ridge and the Panthers made the semis, with the Red Devils advancing, then winning the whole thing over 6-seed Rutgers Prep, which beat 8-seed Immaculata in the semis. This is the kind of event that rarely goes to chalk.

And then??

After that, it gets interesting. Do the coaches go with a larger school like a Montgomery (3-1) or Franklin (4-3) or go with a Manville (5-1), which has allowed ten runs in six games all year, with five of them coming in their loss to Bound Brook (4-2)? Probably not.

Montgomery is ahead of Franklin in the Raritan Division but lost to the Warriors 10-1 in a key game Thursday, while Franklin is 3-0 against Somerset County opponents, with wins over the Cougars, Gill St. Bernards by a 4-3 score, and Rutgers Prep in a blowout 15-3. Somerville (3-2) is sandwiched in the middle, and just beat Rutgers Prep on Friday 12-8, but also lost to Montgomery on April 6th, 11-3.

Our pick is Franklin, then Montgomery for the three and four seeds.

Wide-open…

Who knows how the rest of the seeding will go? There are teams with talent that haven’t had it show in the win column – yet. That’s the trick of seeding this tournament, especially so early in the season. Last year, Opening Day was April first, and the seeding on the 19th. That’s four extra days, and those extra couple of games could be a big deal.

Rather than being seeded by a committee, like the Greater Middlesex Conference, the SCT is seeded by coaches. They all get in a room – as they will Monday night at Immaculata High School – and make the pitch for their team.

Each coach votes on the 14 teams in order (the league is down a team this year with North Plainfield now competing in the GMC) and is assessed a point value based on where they’re seeded. The votes are tallied, and the seeds determined. Coaches can appeal their seeding, which sometimes happens, though this year in basketball, no girls’ or boys’ coach did so.

More than any other year, this SCT may be seeded more on “feel” than wins and losses, since there are so few to go by this early in the season. But it’s a fair price to pay for a chance to hoist a trophy on the lush, green infield of TD Bank Ballpark.