Softball: 2022 Essex County tournament bracket, scores and schedule
Softball supremacy in Essex County is up for grabs once again as the annual Essex County softball tournament returns.
The 2022 edition of this tournament will be the 44th edition of the tournament. In the four decades of this tournament, nine different schools have been crowned county champions with 11 different schools reaching the tournament final.
The 22-team bracket is now available with 10 teams receiving a bye through preliminary rounds. The remaining 12 teams will all have a play-in round game in order to have one of the final 16 spots in the tournament and compete with the county's top seeds.
Mount St. Dominic has the No. 1 seed in the tournament. The Lions have reached the final in nine of the previous 10 held tournaments, winning five county titles in the process. With its next title, Mount St. Dominic will tie Caldwell for the most county championships with 10 titles. All of Mount St. Dominic's finals appearances have come since 1995.
The Lions could face a new challenger in the finals with Livingston as the No. 2 seed in the bracket. The Lancers were the Group 4 state champions last season and reached the finals of the Tournament of Champions. Livingston has reached the county final nine times, but have not done so since 2013, when the school won its fifth title.
The No. 3 seed belongs to Nutley, who have two of its three losses against Livingston this season. Nutley reached last season's county tournament final before losing on a walk-off hit batter against Mount St. Dominic. The Raiders seek their first county title since 2011.
Cedar Grove is the No. 4 seed, returning among the contenders of Essex County softball with a lot of young key players. The Panthers are the most recent public school to claim the county title with a 2018 win, followed by a finals berth in 2019.
The preliminary round games must be played by Saturday, April 30. The first round of the tournament begins on May 4 with the quarterfinals taking place on May 7 with 2 p.m. starts at the higher seeds. The semifinal round takes place on May 13 at Ivy Hill Park in Newark with games at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., while the final takes place a day later.
More: Complete history of the Essex County softball tournament
Play-in round
Friday, April 29
(13) West Orange 24, (20) Arts 4 (4 inn.)
(14) Payne Tech 18, (19) Technology 0 (4 inn.)
(15) Newark Academy 13, (18) Belleville 3 (5 inn.)
Saturday, April 30
(12) Bloomfield 17, (21) Orange 2 (3 inn.)
(17) West Caldwell Tech 5, (16) Montclair Kimberley 4 (8 inn.)
First round
Wednesday, May 4
(1) Mount St. Dominic 15, (17) West Caldwell Tech 0 (3 inn.)
(2) Livingston 9, (15) Newark Academy 0
(3) Nutley 10, (14) Payne Tech 0 (6 inn.)
(4) Cedar Grove 11, (13) West Orange 0 (5 inn.)
(5) Verona 10, (12) Bloomfield 0 (6 inn.)
(6) Columbia 10, (11) Caldwell 0 (5 inn.)
(7) West Essex 6, (10) Millburn 3
(8) Montclair 16, (9) Glen Ridge 7 (6 inn.)
Quarterfinals
Monday, May 9
(4) Cedar Grove 10, (5) Verona 0 (5 inn.)
(2) Livingston 5, (7) West Essex 0
Tuesday, May 10
(3) Nutley 5, (6) Columbia 0
Wednesday, May 11
(1) Mount St. Dominic 9, (8) Montclair 0
Semifinals
Sunday, May 15
at Ivy Hill Park, Newark
(3) Nutley 3, (2) Livingston 2
(1) Mount St. Dominic 2, (4) Cedar Grove 0
Final
Saturday, May 21
at Ivy Hill Park, Newark
(3) Nutley vs. (1) Mount St. Dominic, 7 p.m.
Robert Aitken is a high school sports reporter for NorthJersey.com. For full access to live scores, breaking news and analysis from our Varsity Aces team, subscribe today. To get breaking news directly to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter and download our app.
Email: aitken@northjersey.com
Twitter: @robertaitkenjr
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ softball: Essex County tournament bracket, scores and schedule
