Here’s how all four top-seeds could win the Somerset County Tournament, plus one dark horse

The Somerset County Tournament will get underway Saturday with two first round games.

And while it would certainly be a long haul – with a ton of upsets – for one of those teams to win the whole thing, certainly any of the top four seeds could win it.

Top-seed Immaculata, No. 2 Watchung Hills, third-seed Ridge and No. 4 Rutgers Prep all will get first and second round byes, going right to next Thursday’s quarterfinals.

Today, the day after the Spartans got the No. 1 seed in a vote of the league’s coaches – even after a 10-0 loss at Watchung Hills – we take a look at how each of the top four could win the tournament, and one “dark horse.”

No. 1 seed Immaculata (12-4): Overall body of work, the Spartans have been tremendous all year long. Tuesday’s loss to the Warriors was their first of the year in Skyland Conference play. And probably nine times out of ten, neither team would win by that score when they play each other.

Immaculata’s three prior losses came to Winter Park (FL) on a Spring Break trip, and to Delsea and Delbarton in non-conference play. In the Delaware Division, they had swept two games each from Hillsborough, Bridgewater-Raritan, Ridge and Hunterdon Central.

Wake Forest-bound Ryan Auten is the ace, 3-0 with a 0.92 ERA, and a huge strikeout-to-walk ratio; he’s fanned 60 batters on the year, and walked just seven in 30.1 innings. Cole Raymond took his first loss of the year Tuesday, allowing six runs, all earned, but that was a rarity. In five prior starts, he didn’t give up a single run in three of them, one in another, and three in yet another.

The Spartans are hitting .303 as a team with four home runs, not necessarily the most prolific offense of the bunch, but Auten and Raymond give ‘Lata a chance to win any day of the week.

The Spartans’ Path if everything goes to chalk: In the quarterfinals, Immaculata would draw 8th-seed Montgomery (8-10). Their last meeting came in 2024, when both were in the Raritan Division; they split, with the Spartans taking a 3-0 decision April 9th, then falling 5-1 on April 25th. Four-seed Rutgers Prep (11-3) would be their semifinal opponent. They also last met as Raritan Division members in 2024, with ‘Lata picking up a two-game sweep, 3-1 and 19-8. In the semis, they’d get No. 2 seed Watchung Hills (11-4), with that regular season series to be determined; they meet again at Diamond Nation in Flemington on Thursday.

No. 2 seed Watchung Hills (11-4): We saw the Hustlin’ Warriors pull out a 7-6 win against Bridgewater-Raritan at home on April 9th, completing a two-game sweep of the Panthers, and were impressed. They’re also hot, having won seven of their last eight games, their only loss coming to defending state Group 2 champion Governor Livingston last week. Of course, it’ll be another week-plus until they open up SCT play, and have a second meeting with the Spartans on Thursday after Tuesday’s 10-0 win.

While they may have beaten them head-to-head, in the overall body of work, Watchung Hills’ two conference losses came to Ridge, which themselves got swept two games by Immaculata. While the bats exploded Tuesday, lost in the outburst was senior Rob Centamore’s outstanding two-hit performance. He has been dominant all year, going at least five innings in five starts, never allowing more than three runs in a game. The two-hit shutout was his magnum opus so far.

Offensively, this team can hit, batting .340 as a team with eight homers, and Centamore is instrumental there, too. He’s gone yard three times and is hitting .391, while five regulars are hitting .367 or better.

The Warriors’ Path if everything goes to chalk: In the quarterfinals, the Warriors would draw seventh-seed Somerville (8-10), a team they beat handily twice last season, 9-0 and 12-2, in the midst of an 11-12 season. What’s scary is that this year’s Hills’ squad is even better, and playing in a tougher division. No. 3 seed Ridge (11-6) would be their semifinal opponent, and they won both games this year. The Red Devils took the opener on April 14 by a 12-10 score, then got ten-run ruled in six, 13-3, two days later. In the finals, it would be No. 1 seed Immaculata; they’ve already got one win in the bag against the Spartans, and meet again in Flemington this Thursday.

No. 3 seed Ridge (11-6): After an 8-7 win over Pingry on April 20th, the Red Devils were 11-1, but they have lost five straight since. Most have been close. They got swept 3-0 and 6-0 by Immaculata, then took a 6-2 loss at North Hunterdon, lost 4-3 at Bridgewater-Raritan, and fell 9-5 to Hillsborough at home on Tuesday night. They’ll have to regroup with games against Somerville, at Seton Hall Prep, and Mendham before next Thursday’s quarterfinals.

Pitching was going to be the question mark heading into the season, and it’s not quite been at the level as it was last season when they had an ace like Aidan Stieglitz. For much of the year, the Ridge offense has led the charge, scoring 108 runs in their first 12 – when they went 11-1 – for an average of nine runs a game. And the pitching has kept them in most games. But they’ve only scored ten in their last five, all losses, averaging two runs a game.

If the bats can get back in a groove, Ridge should be back to where they were the first dozen games of this year.

The Red Devils’ Path if everything goes to chalk: First, they would get No. 6 Hillsborough (7-9) in the quarterfinals. The Raiders are the defending Central Jersey Group 4 champs, but are a much younger and inexperienced squad after taking some big graduation losses. Then, the semis would bring No. 2 Watchung Hills (11-4), which they beat twice this year, scoring 25 runs in a 12-10 and 13-3 win. Then they would get top-seed Immaculata (12-4) in the title game, and while Ridge got swept in that series, they were 3-0 and 6-0 games, and certainly winnable.

No. 4 seed Rutgers Prep (11-3): The Argonauts are in second place in the Raritan Division, with two division losses: one to Franklin, and the other yesterday, 1-0 at North Hunterdon., quite the pitchers’ duel, with just six hits between the two.

Rutgers Prep is hitting .358, the best among the top-four seeds in the Somerset County Tournament, with 14 home runs, and they’ve scored the most runs of anyone in the Skyland Conference, with 125, while allowing just 63, second-lowest among the top four teams in the SCT. (Immaculata has allowed just 53 in 16 games.)

Peter Wheeler and Li Perez are a potent one-two punch on the mound, which is needed in a tournament where the semifinals and finals are on a Monday and Wednesday, two days apart. Both seniors, Perez is 3-1 and hasn’t allowed a single earned run in 21 innings pitched. Wheeler allowed three hits and one earned run yesterday against North Hunterdon, and is 4-1 overall with a 1.09 ERA.

The Argonauts’ Path if everything goes to chalk: First up would be five-seed Bridgewater-Raritan (6-11) in the quarterfinals, perhaps the toughest draw of the top four seeds in that round. The Panthers were playing just over .500 ball in the middle of the season, winning five of nine from April 15th through the first of this month, but after winning their opener, they lost five straight, and have lost three games in a row since. Rutgers Prep beat them in the middle of that three-game stretch, 12-8, back on Monday, exploding for a seven-run sixth to pull ahead for good after trailing 8-4 through five. Then, it would be top-seed Immaculata (12-4), a team they haven’t played since 2004, in the semifinals. And should they make the final – and all higher seeds won – they would get No. 2 seed Ridge (11-6). The Red Devils won their lone matchup this year, 4-0, but that was a 1-0 game until Ridge got three insurance runs in the sixth. Li Perez was the hard luck loser in that game, throwing 47 pitches in three innings, allowing no hits and just one unearned run.

The Dark Horse – No. 5 seed Bridgewater-Raritan (11-6): It’s not really going out on a limb to say the fifth-seed has a shot at winning the tournament, but they might be the most likely to do it outside of the top four, despite being five games below .500 on the year.

Against the top-four seeds? They beat second-seed Ridge 4-3 on April 28th, and rematch Thursday. They were swept by third-seed Watchung Hills, but after losing the opener 9-1, kept in close in the second game, falling 7-6 in the bottom of the seventh on a wacky play. And Monday against Rutgers Prep – which would be their quarterfinal opponents, the four-seed – they lost 12-8, a victim of a seven-run sixth-inning.

Of course, finishing outside the top-four means the Panthers have to play in the second round, and would get the winner of 12-seed Pingry (7-8) and 13-seed Manville (6-8). Being a large school, those aren’t frequent opponents for Bridgewater. They haven’t played either dating back to at lest 2008, the last season for which records are publicly available online.