North Brunswick head coach Mark Blevins (left) and St. Joseph coach Mike Murray (right) chat before the GMC Tournament final on May 21, 2023 at Ray Cipperly Field in East Brunswick. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)
The final sports season on the high school calendar is about to get going, with Opening Day for baseball set for April 1.
But there are lots of other key dates on the calendar.
Pitchers and catchers reported on March 11th, with full practices beginning just three days later. Last Thursday was the first day for pre-season scrimmages.
One things get started Monday, we’ll get about five full weeks of play before it’s time to seed the county tournaments.
The Greater Middlesex Conference seeding will take place on Friday, May 3rd at 9 am at East Brunswick Magnet High School. Central Jersey Sports Radio will be there with live coverage on Twitter (follow us at @cjsportsradio) and a full recap after it’s all done here on the website.
The GMC does a main tournament and an “invitational” with the remaining teams, with play quickly starting on Saturday, May 4th. The quarterfinals are held at North Brunswick Community Park on Wednesday, the 8th, with the semis and finals on successive Saturdays at East Brunswick Magnet’s Ray Cipperly Field. The semis are on the 11th and 12 and 2:30 pm, with the finals at 2 pm on May 18th.
Central Jersey Sports Radio will broadcast five GMC Tournament games: two from the quarterfinals, then both semis and the title game.
The Somerset County Tournament is just one bracket, and that will be seeded Monday, May 6th at 7:30 pm, with Central Jersey Sports Radio covering that as well. Play-ins and the first round are held that week, with quarterfinals on the 16th.
New this year, the SCT will hold its semifinals and finals in the same week. Previously, they’d been two weeks apart, not only to allow ace pitchers to reload, but also because of availability of TD Bank Park in Bridgewater, where the Somerset Patriots typically alternate one week away, then one week at home.
This year, the semis will be on Monday, May 20th, while the finals are set for Thursday, the 23rd. But that may not go off on time. That’s also the first day of the state tournament for public schools, so if one of them is in the SCT final, the game would be moved to the rain date of Friday, May 24th, per Immaculata Athletic Director Tom Gambino, the tournament director.
Central Jersey Sports Radio will have live coverage of the semis and finals, whenever they’re played.
As for the NJSIAA state tournament, the cutoff date for qualification is Saturday, May 18th, with seeds coming out the following Monday, the 20th.
Non-Public schools will open state play on May 22nd, with the sectional quarterfinals on May 28th, semis on the 30th, and finals on June first. All those will be played at higher seeds, while the Non-Public State Finals will be held Thursday, June 6th at Veterans Park in Hamilton.
For public schools, after opening on the 23rd, sectional quarterfinals will be May 29th, semis on the 31st, and sectional finals on June 3rd. All those will be at higher seeds, as well, with state semifinals hosted by the champions of North 2 (vs. North 1) and South (vs. Central) on Wednesday, June 5th. State Finals will be played on Saturday, June 8th at Veterans Park in Hamilton.
State tournament coverage from Central Jersey Sports Radio will be announced at a later date.
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