Mike Becker’s projected GMC softball tournament seeds
The Greater Middlesex Conference Softball Tournament will be seeded officially at South Plainfield High School on Friday at 10 a.m.
In seeding the tournament, it is important to keep the following criteria in mind:
Any of the team that has clinched its division is guaranteed a Top 8 seed, unless there are any division(s) in which there are co-division champions — for instance, if one division has co-champions, then the Top 8 seed guarantee becomes a Top 9 seed guarantee.
Also, no team can be seeded above any team in its division that has finished above it in the final standings.
RELATED:Live updates from GMCT softball seeding start Friday at 10 a.m.
Following is how MyCentralJersey.com sports writer Mike Becker would seed the Greater Middlesex Conference Softball Tournament.
1. South Plainfield (18-1, 15-1): The Tigers have clinched at least a tie for the White Division and have only one loss on the season — a 3-1 setback to Monroe this past Saturday. South Plainfield was slated to host Metuchen Thursday night.
2. Monroe (14-1, 14-1): Like South Plainfield, Monroe has only one loss on the season in a 13-12 slugfest loss to the Tigers. Unlike South Plainfield, Monroe has not clinched a share of the White Division yet — they still have a division game against Woodbridge that needs to be played. That takes Monroe out of the running for the No. 1 seed.
3. J.P. Stevens (13-3, 10-2): The Red Division champions have won eight of its past nine games. This seeding should be a debate between the Hawks and Bishop Ahr.
4. Bishop Ahr (14-5, 12-4): All four of the Trojans’ losses in the division have come to South Plainfield and Monroe. Their only other loss was an eight-inning affair against Immaculate Conception, one of the state’s top teams. The Trojans have defeated East Brunswick, which is also on the board.
5. East Brunswick (12--8, 9-3): By virtue of its 3-2 win over Sayreville on Thursday, the Bears finished a game ahead of the Bombers in the Red Division standings, and thus get seeded at No. 5.
6. Sayreville (11-4, 8-4): The Bombers have a quality win on the board with a win over J.P. Stevens and also have beaten Spotswood head-to-head, a team currently up for debate.
7. Spotswood (14-1, 10-0): Guaranteed a Top 8 seed as Blue Division champions and with its only loss coming to Sayreville, which is already off the board, the Chargers get the No. 7 seed.
8. Dunellen (16-1, 14-0): The Destroyers have clinched at least a tie for the 10-team Gold Division, and thus, get a Top 8 seed. Its only loss came to South Plainfield in its first game of the season.
9. South Brunswick (10-6, 6-6): The Vikings have a win on the board in Sayreville and split its two meetings with Piscataway, which is also up for debate here. The fact that they lost to the Chiefs only 2-1 early in the season and more recently beat them 14-4 is enough to give South Brunswick the nod.
10. Piscataway (6-7, 6-6): The Chiefs have wins on the board already in J.P. Stevens, East Brunswick, and South Brunswick. No other team up for debate has even one win on the board.
11. Colonia (10-12, 8-8): This is where things get interesting and the committee can go several ways with Old Bridge, Metuchen, Cardinal McCarrick, Middlesex, and South River all also up for debate here. Multiple teams from the Blue have losses to teams not up for debate yet. Colonia has a .500 record in its division while Old Bridge does not.
12. Old Bridge (5-12, 2-10): The Knights sport a win on the board in beating Piscataway. They also hold a win over Cardinal McCarrick, who on Thursday beat Woodbridge, which is also on the board right here.
13. Cardinal McCarrick (10-5, 6-4): The Eagles have beaten Woodbridge, which is also up for debate. They also beat Metuchen twice, though they have two losses to Middlesex, who lost twice to Metuchen. Are you still following?
14. Woodbridge (8-11, 7-7): The Barrons have a win on the board over Colonia.
15. J.F. Kennedy (7-10, 7-8): The Mustangs split its two games with Colonia. They also gave White Division champ South Plainfield a scare recently.
16. Edison (3-13, 1-11): The Eagles have just one win in the Red Division, over Old Bridge. They do though have an important 1-0 win over Metuchen, which gives them the nod ahead of the Bulldogs.
17. Metuchen (9-8, 6-4): The loss to Edison hurts them. Metuchen has challenged themselves outside the Blue Division with games against East Brunswick and South Brunswick. Metuchen was supposed to play South Plainfield Thursday night — an upset there could move them up a little bit.
18. Middlesex (8-10, 6-4): The Blue Jays twice beat Cardinal McCarrick.
19. Carteret (5-13, 5-11): Four of Carteret’s five wins are against teams below them in the White Division. Their other win is over Woodbridge.
20. North Brunswick (3-17, 2-14): Their only win other than beating Perth Amboy came over J.F. Kennedy in the Colonia Believe Classic.
21. Perth Amboy (1-16, 0-16): The Panthers have a win over South River.
22. South River (14-7, 14-4): This is an appropriate time for the second Gold Division team to come off the board. The Rams lost to Perth Amboy in the opening game of the season, their only game against a GMC team outside the Gold Division.
23. Wardlaw-Hartridge (11-4, 10-4)
24. South Amboy (10-4, 10-4)
25. Highland Park (8-6, 8-6)
26. Mother Seton (4-9, 2-8)
27. New Brunswick (7-10, 0-10)
28. Timothy Christian (7-9, 7-9)
29. East Brunswick Tech (3-15, 3-13)
30. Woodbridge Academy (2-13, 2-13)
31. Piscataway Tech (0-17, 0-15)