Rain postpones opening of Ray Cipperly GMC Invitational, three first round games; havoc could loom with Championship schedule, too

It may only be the beginning.

Rain on Tuesday postponed the three first round games in the 11-team Ray Cipperly GMC Invitational Tournament, with two moving to Wednesday, and one to Thursday.

Eighth-seed Piscataway Magnet now will host 9-seed Highland Park on Wednesday at 4 pm, while sixth-seed Dunellen also will host 11-seed Timothy Christian at 4 pm Wednesday.

Meanwhile, 7th-seed Somerset Tech’s game against 10-seed Perth Amboy Magnet has moved to Thursday. That will throw off the quarterfinals, which already are scheduled for Thursday, where the winner of that game would have travelled to play second-seed North Brunswick.

Here’s Thursday’s schedule as originally set, with that North Brunswick game likely moving to Friday:

• Winner of (8) Piscataway Magnet/(9) Highland Park at (1) JP Stevens
• (5) New Brunswick at (4) Piscataway
• Winner of (6) Dunellen/(11) Timothy Christian at (3) East Brunswick Magnet
• Winner of (7) Somerset Tech/(10) Perth Amboy Magnet at (2) North Brunswick.

The forecast for Wednesday does not look good either, with the Jim Muldowney GMC Championship Tournament set for quarterfinal action at North Brunswick Community Park, featuring two games at 4 pm and two at 7 pm.

According to The Weather Channel, about a half inch of rain is expected Tuesday night alone, and another quarter inch Wednesday during the day. By game time for the first two games, the chance of rain is about 34 percent, and cloudy skies expected in a window from 5 to 8 pm – with the rain chance about 24 percent – with more showers around 9:00.

Fortunately, thunderstorms don’t appear to be in the forecast.

Thursday looks like a better day, with cloudy skies predicted, but a 25 percent chance of rain throughout the day and evening. GMC President Mike Pede says if the games can’t be played Wednesday, they’ll move to Thursday. And if North Brunswick’s fields aren’t playable, the next step would be moving to higher seeds that ideally have turf fields.

Pede says a decision will be made Wednesday on the status of the quarterfinals, based on the forecast and field conditions.

Here’s the quarterfinal schedule – as it stands now – for the Muldowney GMC Championship quarterfinals at North Brunswick Community Park:

4 PM Games
(5) St. Joseph-Metuchen (11-6) vs. (13) Metuchen (15-6) on Field 1 (follow Alec Crouthamel on Twitter for updates)
(8) Spotswood (13-8) vs (16) South River (14-5) on Field 2 (LIVE on CJSR)

7 PM Games
(2) South Plainfield (13-8) vs. (10) Middlesex (14-4) on Field 1 (follow Alec Crouthamel on Twitter for updates)
(3) St. Thomas Aquinas (13-6) vs. (11) Edison (11-9) (LIVE on CJSR)

Looking further ahead to Saturday’s Championship semifinals at East Brunswick Magnet School, the forecast calls for monring showers and scattered thunderstorms during the afternoon, with a high of 82, but Sunday looks significantly better: 79, with sunshine, a few clouds, and a minimal four percent chance of rain.