The Bridgewater-Raritan poses for fans to take photos of them with their 2023 SCT championship trophy at TD Bank Park on May 24, 2024. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)
With Bridgewater-Raritan winning the 2024 Somerset County Tournament, the Panthers continue to rewrite the record books.
Last year’s 23 wins were a program record, this year they set a new mark of 24, with with the title game win, have extended that to 25.
The Panthers will have a chance to extend that even further, now fully focused on the NJSIAA state tournament, where they will host ninth-seed Edison Wednesday in the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 4 quarterfinals after the long Memorial Day weekend break.
Winning a sectional title would extend that streak to 28, while a state Group 4 title would get them to 30.
And it’s been a remarkable two year run:
- Bridgewater-Raritan is now 48-10 over the past two seasons.
- Skyland Conference Delaware Division champions two years in a row (10-0 in 2024, 10-2 in 2023)
- Skyland Conference Champions two years in a tow
- 2024 Somerset County Tournament Champions
- North Jersey, Section 2, Group 4 finalist in 2023.
Here are some more notes and nuggets from the 2024 SCT finals:
Rible does it again…
The Panthers – 25-4 overall – are now 14-0 in games in which Cory Rible has pitched. Though he’s thrown more pitches in his appearances over the last month or so, he shows no signs of tiring. But the Memorial Day break probably won’t hurt him either. He’ll be all ready to go in relief in next Wednesday’s sectional quarterfinals, and in Friday’s semis if need be.
Though Rible has given up a few runs of late, he had a stretch of eight games from April 9th through the 27th in which he didn’t surrender a single earned run.
The 33 pitches he threw in Friday night’s SCT final was the fewest of his last three relief appearances. He threw 67 on May 7th against Immaculata, and 65 against Watchung Hills in the semifinals out at Diamond Nation in Flemington on Monday.
Ridge scores, but so does BR…
Ridge had scored 27 runs in just 12 innings across two Somerset County Tournament games, an average of 13.5 runs per contest. It was clear that against better pitching like the Panthers have they probably wouldn’t score that many.
They did manage to get their runs though. They scored seven against Bridgewater-Raritan, the most they had given up in five games. They allowed seven to Rutgers Prep in an 11-7 regular season win May 15th. The only other team to score more than seven against B-R was West Morris, in their first loss of the season, an 11-7 defeat back on April 19th.
And the seven runs they scored were the third most by a losing team in the SCT title game. Only Somerville (10) in 1986 and Hillsborough (11) in 2007 scored more.
A lot of runs, but was it a record?
The 17 combined runs scored by Ridge and Bridgewater-Raritan were the second most in a regulation Somerset County Tournament Final.
Immaculata and Hillsborough combined for 23 in the 2007 title game, but that was a ten inning game Immaculata won 12-11. Bernards and Somerville combined for 24 in 1986, when the Mountaineers won 14-10 in regulation.
The 2024 output topped the 16 scored in a 13-3 mercy-rule win by Montgomery over Immaculata in 2010.
Meanwhile, the ten runs scored by Bridgewater are tied for the sixth-most scored by a winning team in the finals.
History lesson…
None of the Bridgewater players were even born the last time the Panthers won the SCT; if they had been born on that day – May 25, 1996 – they’d be turning 28 today, well out of college.
So, how did that one go?
In front of 1,100 at North Plainfield’s Krausche Field – per a Courier News story written by the legend himself, Harry Frezza, the top-seeded Panthers rallied for three runs in the top of the seventh and held on to beat six-seed Immaculata 7-5. That was their first title since the merger of Bridgewater East and West in 1991.
Down a run, with two outs, designated hitter Grant Neary singled home Danny Houston to tie the score at 5-5. Carlo Puppo got his third hit of the night. Mike Perotti walked to load the bases. Then Steve Sullivan drew another walk to make it 6-5, while an infield hit by Steve Gossh drove in another run. He’d bounced the ball to short, but no one was at second to take the throw, and everyone was safe.
Play an hour earlier
The last two years, the Somerset County Final started at 7 pm at TD Bank Park, but for whatever reason, this year started at six. Certainly neither team helped themselves with a bevy of early walks, but the game was sloppy.
There were five errors in the game between the teams – three by Ridge and two by Bridgewater-Raritan – but there were other “errors” that didn’t show up on the board.
Early on, players had trouble finding the ball in the sun. In that 6 to 7 pm hour, the sun is above to just barely above the suite level roof at TD Bank Park. The left side of the field had the most issues. It even appeared to throw off B-R catcher JR Rosado, who stumbled trying to zig zag to catch an early pop foul about 20 feet down the third base line as we went from the grass to the dirt baseline.
By 7:00, the shadows had just about reached the outfield grass.
Make a note for next year: start the final at 7 pm instead of six.
Somerset County Tournament History
1973 Bridgewater-Raritan East def. Hillsborough, 1-0
1974 Somerville def. North Plainfield, 1-0
1975 Watchung Hills def. Hillsborough, 6-4
1976 Ridge def. Watchung Hills, 4-3 (10 inn.)
1977 Hillsborough def. North Plainfield, 5-0
1978 Bridgewater-Raritan East def. Hillsborough, 9-2
1979 Hillsborough def. Ridge, 2-0
1980 Ridge, def. Franklin, 7-1
1981 Manville def. Immaculata, 4-1
1982 Watchung Hills def. Bridgewater-Raritan West, 15-0 (mercy rule)
1983 Watchung Hills def. Hillsborough, 2-0
1984 Ridge def. Immaculata, 2-0
1985 (2) Ridge def. (1) Immaculata, 5-0
1986 Bernards def. Somerville, 14-10
1987 Somerville def. Ridge, 2-1
1988 (6) Bridgewater-Raritan West def. (1) Ridge, 3-1
1989 (1) Ridge def. Bridgewater-Raritan West, 5-4
1990 (7) Bridgewater-Raritan East def. (4) Somerville, 9-1
1991 (1) Immaculata def. North Plainfield, 11-3
1992 (2) Somerville def. (1) Watchung Hills, 9-2
1993 (3) Watchung Hills def. (1) Immaculata, 5-4
1994 (3) Immaculata, def. (1) Watchung Hills, 5-2
1995 (1) Somerville def. (3) Ridge, 7-6
1996 (6) Bridgewater-Raritan def. (1) Immaculata, 7-5
1997 (2) Immaculata def. (1) Bridgewater-Raritan, 2-0
1998 (3) Immaculata def. (1) Bridgewater-Raritan, 3-2
1999 (1) Immaculata def. (6) Hillsborough, 8-0
2000 (1) Immaculata def. (2) Ridge, 2-0
2001 (2) Immaculata def. (5) Montgomery, 6-1
2002 (1) Immaculata def. (2) Ridge, 10-0 (mercy rule)
2003 (3) Montgomery def. (8) Pingry, 5-4
2004 (3) Immaculata def. (1) Hillsborough, 1-0
2005 (2) Hillsborough, def. (1) Immaculata 5-1
2006 (1) Immaculata def. (7) Pingry, 8-0
2007 (1) Immaculata def. (3) Hillsborough, 12-11 (10 inn.)
2008 (1) Immaculata def. (2) Hillsborough, 9-1
2009 (2) Watchung Hills def. (9) Montgomery 4-0
2010 (2) Montgomery def. (1) Immaculata, 13-3 (5 inn.) (mercy rule)
2011 (8) Ridge def. (3) Hillsborough, 4-3 (8 inn.)
2012 (4) Hillsborough def. (7) Bridgewater-Raritan, 4-3 (12 inn.)
2013 (6) Bernards def. (5) Immaculata, 6-5
2014 (4) Hillsborough def. (2) Ridge, 4-3 (9 inn.)
2015 (6) Hillsborough def. (9) Watchung Hills, 3-1
2016 (1) Montgomery def. (6) Watchung Hills, 2-1
2017 (10) Rutgers Prep def. (1) Montgomery, 7-2
2018 (3) Immaculata def. (9) Montgomery, 6-5
2019 (2) Immaculata def. (5) Ridge, 6-5 (12 inn.)
2020 & 2021 NO TOURNAMENT
2022 (1) Ridge def. (6) Rutgers Prep, 6-0
2023 (12) Rutgers Prep def. (2) Ridge, 1-0
2024 (1) Bridgewater-Raritan def. (3) Ridge, 10-7
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