MCT semifinals are shaping up to be an exciting night

Following what’s been an entertaining build-up, the postseason in high school softball is now at hand.

Beginning later next week, the New Jersey states get underway with a whole host of highly-seeded area teams in a position to make their usual strong runs. The PIAA districts, meanwhile, begin in nine days.

Before taking a look at how the New Jersey sectional brackets appear to be lining up, there’s the not-so-small matter of the Mercer County Tournament.

It resumes on Monday night in Ewing with two excellent semifinal games. The championship game is set for Wednesday night at Armstrong Park.

In one semifinal it will be Robbinsville against Notre Dame. This will be a rematch of last year’s title game that Robbinsville won, 6-5, in extra innings before going on to win yet another state title with a lineup full of sophomores.

Robbinsville and Notre Dame recently met during the regular season with the Ravens prevailing, 2-1. In that game, Robbinsville had a lot of trouble dealing with the change of speed by Alexis Staniec, who really deserves a lot of credit. Ever since the Neshaminy game in which she walked four batters and hit another in the same inning, Staniec has settled in nicely in a year in which she originally didn’t even project as the No. 1 starter.

The other semifinal pits Steinert against West Windsor North. The last time these two played was in last year’s state tourney with the Spartans prevailing, 3-2, in extras before going on to suffer a tough one-run loss in the state final.

It’s really pretty simple with the Spartans. When they hit they can beat anybody in large part because Kaylee Whittaker has shown over and over again she’s a big-game pitcher.

It won’t be easy, however, against West Windsor North’s McKenna Carpenter. Her softball career is rapidly heading to a conclusion because she does not plan on pitching in college, but Carpenter can be tough. She’s not overpowering, but she’s got good heat for having such a small frame, is excellent at making you chase pitches and is a real competitor.

Whatever happens, this is the first time in a long time when the MCT has pretty much gone very much by form in terms of which teams made the semifinals. The only high seed to lose was No. 4 West Windsor South, and it was knocked out by No. 5 Notre Dame.

Getting back to the New Jersey states, although the seeding and release of the official pairings is not until Monday, you can already project how much of this is going to pan out. And as usual, a huge chunk of the action in terms of area teams will be in the Central Jersey Group III and South Jersey Group IV brackets.

In C.J. III, it looks like Burlington Township at No. 1, followed by No. 2 Northern Burlington, No. 3 West Windsor North and No. 4 Steinert. Throw in Westampton Tech, Ewing and Nottingham, and eight of the top nine spots would be occupied by area teams.

The seeding would mean if they advance that far Steinert and Northern Burlington could not meet until the final. The two played earlier this year with NBC prevailing, 3-0.

As always, S.J. Group IV is loaded. Cherokee (14-6), Rancocas Valley (10-6), Shawnee (11-9) and Lenape (12-4) are all in this bracket, and none of them are even among the top five seeds.

Hoping to make the state final for an unbelievable seventh time in the last eight years, Robbinsville will sit in its usual spot atop the Central Jersey Group II bracket. This means it could not see No. 2 Bordentown until what would be a rematch of last year’s final. Haha.