Softball: Projecting the Somerset County Tournament bracket

The Somerset County Softball Tournament is scheduled to be seeded during a meeting of coaches Wednesday evening, with the county’s 15 varsity teams competing in the annual event that gets underway Saturday.

The seeding meeting is slated for 7 p.m. at Bound Brook High School, with the committee of the county’s head coaches taking several factors into consideration, including record, head-to-head results, strength of schedule, and common opponents.

The process can be a tricky and subjective exercise. Here is my annual breakdown of how I would seed the tournament based on the prescribed criteria. There are two games scheduled for Wednesday – weather permitting -- that could impact the seeding, including Gill St. Bernard’s at Pingry, which could change things, especially if Gill avenges an 11-0 loss to the Big Blue earlier this year. Somerville is also in action Wednesday, facing Voorhees, and a Pioneers win could also have an effect.

Follow me on Twitter @SimeonPincus for live updates from the meeting, and check back here at MyCentralJersey.com on Wednesday night, as I will post the seeds and pairings as soon as they become official.

The tournament gets going Saturday with No. 15 through No. 10 in action. Winners face No. 5 through No. 7 in the second round April 27, with the Top 4 seeds getting going May 4 in the quarterfinals.

The semis are Wednesday, May 8 at the higher-seeded school, and the final Friday, May 10 at Torpey Field in Bridgewater.

More: Softball roundup: Daily results and links for Skyland Conference, GMC, area Union County

Records through Tuesday.

TIER 1

1. WATCHUNG HILLS (6-1)WINS: Hunterdon Central, Bernards, Livingston, Immaculata, Dayton, HillsboroughLOSSES: Governor Livingston

2. IMMACULATA (5-1)WINS: Hunterdon Central, Ridge, Bridgewater-Raritan, Pingry, North HunterdonLOSSES: Watchung Hills

3. BERNARDS (4-3)WINS: Hillsborough, Pingry, Ridge, Bridgewater-RaritanLOSSES: Brearley, Watchung Hills, Warren Hills

4. PINGRY (4-3)WINS: Gill St. Bernard’s, Ridge, Warren Hills, PhillipsburgLOSSES: Columbia, Bernards, Immaculata

TIER 1 ANALYSIS: This is pretty cut and dried. Watchung Hills beat, both, Immaculata and Bernards heads up, and the Spartans get the nod over the Mountaineers based on strength of schedule. Bernards beat Pingry heads up, albeit by just one run.

More: Softball rankings and notebook: Skyland Conference and area UCC, through April 15

More: Softball ballot: Vote for Central Jersey Player of the Week

TIER 2

5. RIDGE (2-5)WINS: Franklin, Gill St. Bernard’sLOSSES: Governor Livingston, Immaculata, Pingry, Phillipsburg, Bernards

6. GILL ST. BERNARD’S (2-3)WINS: Oak Knoll, Warren HillsLOSSES: Pingry, Phillipsburg, Ridge

7. BOUND BROOK (4-1)WINS: Rutgers Prep, Somerville, South Hunterdon, ManvilleLOSSES: Bayonne

8. FRANKLIN (4-3)WINS: Kent Place, Delaware Valley, Manville, South HunterdonLOSSES: Warren Hills, Colonia, Ridge

9. MOUNT ST. MARY (3-2)WINS: Belvidere, Montgomery, VoorheesLOSSES: Bayonne, Summit

TIER 2 ANALYSIS: The only thing that’s certain among this group is that Gill St. Bernard’s has to be behind Ridge after Tuesday’s head-to-head Red Devils win. Otherwise, you can make a case to arrange these teams in any order. I’m going Ridge and Gill based on strength of schedule playing in a Raritan Division where any of the six teams are capable of beating any of the others on a given day. Then Bound Brook, which is undefeated in the Skyland Conference’s smallest division, and the Crusaders and Mount St. Mary each gave Group 4-Bayonne a run for its money, losing one-run games. Franklin gets the nod over Mount St. Mary on record, as they play in the same division and Franklin’s played a tougher non-conference slate.

And while Bound Brook plays in a smaller division than Mount, I’m going to give the Crusaders the nod because the strength of schedule difference is negligible and BB should be rewarded for not only winning its games, but doing so in lopsided fashion, with each of its wins coming via mercy rule.

TIER 3

10. HILLSBOROUGH (1-6)WINS: Bridgewater-RaritanLOSSES: Bernards, Roxbury, Hunterdon Central, South Brunswick, Ewing, Watchung Hills

11. BRIDGEWATER-RARITAN (1-8)WINS: Governor LivingstonLOSSES: North Hunterdon, Dayton, Hillsborough, Roselle Park, Immaculata, Bernards, Phillipsburg, Hunterdon Central

12. SOMERVILLE (2-2)WINS: Hopewell Valley, PiscatawayLOSSES: South Hunterdon, Bound Brook

13. RUTGERS PREP (2-2)WINS: Montgomery, ManvilleLOSSES: Bound Brook, South Hunterdon

TIER 3 ANALYSIS: Once again, strength of schedule puts the Delaware Division on to of this tier, with Hillsborough ahead of Bridgewater-Raritan on head-to-head. This will be, by far, the lowest Boro will be seeded in this tournament in nearly a quarter century. Outside of a forgettable 2017 season that saw the Raiders finish with a losing record for the first time since 2000 (they were seeded No. 6), Boro hasn’t been seeded lower than No. 3 since 2007, and lower than No. 4 since it was the No. 11 seed in 2000. That’s also the last season Bridgewater-Raritan had to play a first-round game. Somerville is ahead of Rutgers Prep because the Pioneers played a more competitive game against South Hunterdon.

TIER 4

14. MONTGOMERY (0-5)WINS: NALOSSES: Rutgers Prep, Voorhees, Mount St, Mary, Belvidere, Delaware Valley

15. MANVILLE (0-4)WINS: NALOSSES: Rutgers Prep, South Hunterdon, Franklin, Bound Brook

TIER 4 ANALYSIS: Montgomery wins strength of schedule among the county’s winless teams.

Staff writer Simeon Pincus has been covering NJ sports since 1997, and has been on the softball beat since 1999. He can be reached at CourierSoftball@aol.com.

Follow him on Twitter @SimeonPincus – he’ll have live coverage from tonight’s Somerset County seeding meeting and post the bracket the moment it becomes official

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: NJ Softball: Projecting the Somerset County Tournament bracket