GET UP AND DANCE
NJ’s summer baseball tournament for high school players gets underway today
Today all the build-up ends, and many high school baseball players around New Jersey get back to what they do best: Play Ball!
Sixteen teams from The Trentonian’s coverage will be in the mix when the New Jersey Last Dance World Series presented by RWJBarnabas Health gets underway with its pool-play round at numerous sites around this coronavirusravaged state.
Players have been longing to get back out there since spring sports were canceled when school buildings and their facilities were closed for the remainder of the 2019-20 academic year because of COVID-19.
The N.J. Last Dance World Series was created as a way for high school baseball players who missed out on the 2020 season to get to play some meaningful games with their classmates before seniors head off to college.
The creators of this 222team summer tournament sanctioned by the United States Specialty Sports Association plan to have teams abide by the directives of the New Jersey Department of Health, the National Federation of State High School Associations and the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association.
While this idea blossomed from an all-North Jersey “World Series” to an all-state affair as interest grew, this is not an NJSIAA-sponsored event, so teams cannot wear school uniforms or use school transportation.
In Trenton’s immediate surroundings, there will be three sites hosting pool-play games from July 14-16. All entrants are guaranteed three games during the pool-play round.
One team from each of the 32 Regional pairings around North and South Jersey will advance to the Last Dance’s, single-elimination Sweet 16 rounds Tuesday, July 21 at minor league parks around New Jersey.
From there on out, the Last Dance World Series will continue with its single-elimination format, including the Elite Eight Wednesday, July 22, Final Four Tuesday, July 28 and North and South championships July 29.
Those two teams will then play for the New Jersey Last Dance World Series title at 7 p.m. July 31 at Arm & Hammer Park in Trenton.
While there have been some changes in the last month-anda-half of preparations for the tournament, two constants are that games will be seven innings in length (unless extras are needed) and the 10run rule will go into effect in the fifth inning.
The Lawrenceville Regional and the Trenton half of the Bordentown/Trenton Regional will be held at Trenton Babe Ruth (100 Bunting Ave.).
The Lawrence Road Irish, East Windsor Rams, Cardinals Baseball and PC Tigers make up the Lawrenceville bracket, which will play a round-robin format over the next three days. The team with the best record at the end of that stretch, or the team which wins tiebreakers (head-to-head first, then fewest runs allowed) will advance.
Play begins at 10 a.m. today at Trenton Babe Ruth with the PC Tigers taking on the Lawrence Road Irish, followed by Cardinals Baseball vs. the East Windsor Rams at 1 p.m.
The Program, TCA, Big Red Machine and Red Raiders will represent the Trenton region. Big Red Machine takes on TCA at 4 p.m. today at Trenton Babe Ruth with the Red Raiders meeting The Program at 7 p.m.
The Bordentown half of the Bordentown/Trenton Regional will begin today with games at Gilder Field in Bordentown. The Mercer Stars will meet the Hamilton Spartans at 2 p.m., followed by Bordentown vs. Dirty Boyz Liedtka Trucking at 5 p.m.
As an eight-team region, the Day 1 winning teams at both the Bordentown and Trenton sites will play each other the following day. The Trenton teams will meet at 4 p.m. Wednesday at Trenton Babe Ruth. The Bordentown teams will meet at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Arm & Hammer Park in Trenton.
The Day 1 losing teams at both the Bordentown and Trenton sites also will play each other the following day. The Bordentown teams will meet at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Gilder Field. The Trenton teams will meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Trenton Babe Ruth.
The Bordentown and Trenton teams remaining undefeated meet at 6 p.m. July 16 at Arm & Hammer Park for the right to advance to the Sweet 16.
Tickets for all Last Dance games at Arm & Hammer Park need to be purchased in ad- vance at trentonthunder.com. These will be mobile tickets only. Tickets will NOT be available for pick up at Will Call, nor will there be any walk-up sales.
The other three July 16 games in the Bordentown/ Trenton Regional will be played as crossover games at Gilder Field, beginning with the winless teams at 11 a.m.
For those unable to attend, but interested in following the Lawrence Road Irish, Dirty Boyz Liedtka Trucking, the Hamilton Spartans, the Mercer Stars or Bordentown in the Last Dance World Series, each of those team’s games will be video-streamed live at wbcbsports.com and on WB- CB’s Facebook Live page, beginning with The Trentonian Pre-Game Show.
The Rville Ravens and Allentown will represent the Colonial Valley Conference in the eight-team, Brick/Tri-County Regional, following a similar format to the one used in the Bordentown/Trenton Regional. Play begins at 3 p.m. today at First Energy Park in Lakewood when the Rville Ravens take on the Monmouth Monarchs at 3 p.m. Allentown will play (Monroe) Township at 7 p.m., also at the home of the Blue Claws.
In the eight-team, Bellmawr/Burlington Regional, Roebling and the NB Warriors will go head-to-head in the first round with a 1 p.m. game at the Westampton Sports Complex.
Because of continued coronavirus concerns, players and coaches will have their temperatures taken before being allowed to play. Fans are asked not to set up shop at sites more than 15 minutes before game time. Face coverings are highly recommended, and social distancing is expected.
N.J. Last Dance World Series