By Andy Loigu

A baseball tournament, to compensate for the absence of a 2020 high school season, is scheduled to be played this month with 222 teams from throughout New Jersey involved, including H-town (Hackettstown). The tournament is not affiliated with the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) or any of its member schools. No school issued equipment or uniforms that would be used.

It is scheduled to start on July 14 and continue through July 16 at 60 different venues. It will conclude with the championship game on July 31 at Arm and Hammer Park along the Trenton waterfront. The ballpark has served as the home of the Yankees’ Double-A entry in the Eastern League, the Trenton Thunder, for over a decade.

After finishing the pool play, the tournament will follow the format of the College World Series and will crown North and South section champions, who will then vie for the overall state title. A Florida-based governing body is sanctioning the tournament.

Along the way, eliminations will be played at professional minor league parks in Bridgewater, Lakewood, and Sussex.

H-town baseball (drawing players from the Hackettstown area) has been placed in a 4-team Flanders Regional, with Mount Olive, Mendham and Long Valley.

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Well, Americans are hungry for live baseball, our long-beloved national pastime. Even Yankees practices and scrimmage games are being shown live on TV. Frankly, I enjoyed watching the rebroadcast of the sudden-victory game seven from the 1960 World Series on YES, because it brought back memories of fifth grade and “Happy Days” from way back when.

Since it does not appear I’ll be able to talk these teams out of doing this, I wish them well and add a wish for a well played and memorable series.

Most importantly, stay well and safe.

Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has left the building.