NJSIAA officials, school representative and the ground crew discuss options around 12:45 Saturday afternoon, ultimately deciding to try and play the 2026 state Group 1 final between Middlesex and Midland Park, despite light rain at the time. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)
As much as all eyes were on the weather forecast for Memorial Day weekend and the Jim Muldowney GMC Tournament Championship Game’s fate – which saw it get moved one week later to this past weekend – there won’t be much need to check the foreacast if you’re heading out for a state tournament game this week.
Unless, that is, you want to know the UV Index so you can plan how much sunscreen to pack.
While things will heat up a bit this week after what felt like a chilly weekend – especially Saturday at East Brunswick Magnet where winds were around 20 miles an hour or more at Ray Cipperly Field for the GMC final, with temps in the low 60s – there will be plenty of sun, and no real concern about rain, at least through Friday.
For Tuesday, when play resumes in the non-public sections, AccuWeather says it’ll be 77 degrees with sunshine, and a zero percent chance of precipitation in Somerset for our live broadcast of the Non-Public North B semifinals between second-seed Rutgers Prep and third-seed St. Thomas Aquinas.
On Wednesday, temperatures should be in the low 80s with sunshine, and again, a zero percent chance of any rain, when the public sectional semis are played, including our feature game, fifth-seed Bridgewater-Raritan at top-seed Ridge in North 2, Group 4.
The mercury will creep up a bit for Thursday, where we could have Aquinas or Rutgers Prep in the North B final, most likely at top-seed Rutherford, where it will be 88 with sunshine. Flemington – home of Diamond Nation, where Immaculata would be at home if they make the South A title game – will be a bit cooler, around 85 at game time, again with virtually no chance of rain.
And by Friday, when the public sectional semifinals will be played – and we have teams still alive in four different sections – it’s looking like temps will top 90, with just a seven percent chance of rain.
Next week? Well, it’s still pretty early yet, but it may not be as nice.
Monday is the date for the state semifinals for public schools, and the current forecast says 73 degrees, but a few showers, with the chance of rain around 70 percent in the New Brunswick area. And Tuesday has a 77 percent chance of rain, with temps in the high 70s. Wednesday is 50-50, but that’s also the day of the Non-Public state finals at Rutgers. The public state semis are hosted by teams with higher power point values, so there wouldn’t be any conflicts.
Thursday has a 69 percent chance of rain, and Friday about 55 percent in the New Brunswick area. But there’s nothing else scheduled (unless there are further rain outs) until Sunday, when the Public state finals are scheduled,with four games on tap, starting at 10 am. That should give plenty of cushion to adjust for bad weather.
And with Bainton Field being a turf surface, even a shower would likely just result in a rain delay, but not a mass postponement, as happened last season down at Veterans Park in Hamilton.
After the first of four public school games on that Championship Saturday – played in an off-and-on drizzle and occasional steady, light rain – Middlesex and Midland Park got in just the top of the first inning before the deluge came, and forced the game – and two more – to move to the Wood-Ridge Athletic Complex the following Monday, one of the key reasons the state looked to move its finals out of Hamilton.
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