The non-public baseball state finals involving Gloucester Catholic, St. Mary-Rutherford, Don Bosco prep and Red Bank Catholic – shown here celebrating their South A title on June 3, 2023 – have been moved to Friday due to poor air quality caused by smoke from Canadian wildfires. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)
The smokey, hazy conditions that have caused unhealthy air conditions across the Northeast has forced the NJSIAA to postpone and combine some of its championship events this weekend.
The Non-Public baseball finals scheduled for 4 and 7 pm at Veterans’ Park in Hamilton were moved from Thursday to Friday at the same time. The Group B final will be St. Mary-Rutherford against Gloucester Catholic at 4 pm at Bob DeMeo Field, followed by the Group A final – Don Bosco Prep against Red Bank Catholic – at 7 pm.
Meanwhile, the two-day NJSIAA group track meets were combined into a one-day event. They were supposed to take place at Delsea and Franklin High Schools Friday and Saturday, but now will be combined into events at both schools on Saturday only.
As of 1 pm, a revised meet schedule had not been put together, but running and field events will begin at 9:30 am at both locations.
The NJSIAA has been monitoring air quality since yesterday, in a story first reported by Central Jersey Sports Radio Wednesday morning. While forecasters expect conditions to get better Friday, and possibly into Saturday, many say it’s difficult to predict the weather patterns that could bring more smoky haze into the area as several wildfires continue to burn in Quebec.
The NJSIAA had said it would make decisions on a daily basis about games, so it’s unclear whether the Friday events, or even Saturday’s public baseball state finals would be moved further if unhealthy air quality persists.
Air quality levels were reported “hazardous” in most areas of the state on Wednesday, but by Thursday, many areas had improved to “unhealthy.”
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