‘Last Dance’ Tournament finally reveals bracket pairings
Sixteen of the 25 baseball teams from The Trentonian’s coverage area are slated to take part in the upcoming New Jersey “Last Dance” Tournament sanctioned by the United States Specialty Sports Association (USSSA) after the pairings were officially announced online Saturday in Jersey Sports Zone’s selection show.
Those squads will take part in four “Regionals” in the South Jersey portion of the tournament. Since the tourney is not associated with the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, teams are not allowed to wear school uniforms, so many of the clubs are using different names.
“Last Dance” is a New Jersey high school summer tournament for baseball players who were in grades 9-12 during the 2019-20 school year. It is not a travel team tourney.
The tournament ended up having 222 teams divided among 32 regions around the state. Pool play is set to begin Tuesday, July 14 and run through Thursday, July 16 (weather permitting).
In the Bordentown-Trenton Regional, four teams will play at Gilder Field in Bordentown, while four others play on Trenton’s Babe Ruth field at 100 Bunting Ave. in the capital city.
Using the name “Dirty Boyz Liedtka Trucking,” Hamilton West was given the top seed for the Bordentown
portion of the bracket, followed by second-seeded Hamilton Spartans (Steinert), third-seeded Mercer Stars (Nottingham) and fourth-seeded Bordentown.
Calling themselves “The Program,” the Hun School got the top seed for the Trenton portion of the bracket, followed by second-seeded TCA (Trenton Catholic Academy), third-seeded Big Red Baseball (the Lawrenceville School) and fourth-seeded Red Raiders (the Pennington School).
Since there are eight teams in that Regional, there will be two games each of the first two days at both sites. The top seed will play the fourth seed and the second seed will play the third seed on Day 1. On Day 2, the winners from the first day and the losers from the first day will meet.
The third day will feature crossover games between the two sites with the two teams that have not won playing, the 1-1 teams that won Wednesday playing, the 1-1 teams that lost Wednesday playing and the two 2-0 squads playing for the right to advance in the tournament. Thursday’s games in this region figure to be split between sites since there is supposed to be another Regional playing at Trenton Babe Ruth.
Because it was hard to find fields that would be willing to host in the wake of COVID-19, the Lawrenceville Regional is also supposed to be held at Trenton Babe Ruth.
Notre Dame earned the top seed in this bracket, followed by second-seeded East Windsor Rams (Hightstown), third-seeded Cardinals Baseball (Lawrence) and fourth-seeded PC Tigers (Princeton High).
“The kids are excited,” Gary Conover, who will be filling in for ND head coach Joe Drulis, said during JSZ’s selection show. “There was a huge response, and it was a positive response that we’re playing.”
In a four-team region like this, the top-seeded and fourth-seeded teams, plus the second-seeded and thirdseeded teams meet on Day 1. On Day 2, the top-seeded team plays the third seed and the second-seeded team plays the fourth seed. On Day 3, the top seed and second seed will play as will the third seed and fourth seed.
Under this round-robin format, the team which advances will be either be determined on most wins or tie-breakers.
In the four-team TriCounty Regional, which will tentatively be played at
Manalapan Rec Center, Allentown earned the second seed behind top-seeded Monmouth Monarchs (Manalapan), and Rville Ravens (Robbinsville) got the fourth seed behind third-seeded Monroe Falcons Baseball.
In the eight-team Bellmawr-Burlington Regional, NB Warriors (Northern Burlington) earned the top seed for the half of the bracket which will play its games at Doane Academy in Burlington City. Burlington Twp. is the second seed followed by third-seeded Doane Academy and fourth-seeded Roebling (Florence).
The 16 teams who advance will play single-elimination rounds beginning Tuesday, July 21. Single-elimination rounds will continue until North and South winners are determined July 29. Those two teams then play for the “Last Dance” Tournament title July 30 at Arm & Hammer Park in Trenton.
The tourney is the brainchild of Mike Murray Jr., the varsity baseball coach and athletic director at St. Joseph’s High in Metuchen, in hopes of giving high school baseballers a chance to play together again after missing out on competing since March when the coronavirus pandemic began forcing the cancellation of spring sports seasons and shutting down schools to in-person learning for the remainder of 2019-20.
While it is not an NJSIAA event, Murray and the tournament’s organizers have tried their best to follow directives from the state high school sports organization, as well as those of the New Jersey Department of Health and the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS).
For instance, each regional site will have an athletic trainer, who will take temperatures before each game to make sure players and coaches are staying safe. Social distancing will be emphasized, both on the field and off, where face masks are also expected to be used by fans, coaches and players not in the game.
“We wanted to run this tournament without stepping on any toes,” Murray Jr. said. “We wanted to do something that was within the guidelines given to us from our different governing bodies. I think we’ve done that.
“We want to do a good job of showing that sports can be back safely, and, if done in the right way, can unify kids; give them a sanctuary, some good news; to hopefully start turning the tide coming out of what has been a devastating few months.”
“It’s great for the kids,” Allentown head coach Brian Nice said during the selection show. “Mike and the other guys have gone above and beyond.”
Now it’s time for the players to get to do their thing.