Colonial Produces Big Winners in South Jersey Softball Championships
There were many great performances in the South Jersey public school softball championships, but special mention goes to the Colonial Conference.
There were eight public schools competing in the four South Jersey championships and half the field came from the Colonial Conference.
The South Jersey Group 2 and Group 1 championships were exclusively Colonial Conference competitions.
Three of the teams came from the Colonial Liberty Division—Audubon, Haddon Heights and Gloucester—while Haddon Township competes in the Colonial Patriot.
Haddon Township beat Audubon, 5-2, in the South Jersey Group 1 championship, while Gloucester was a 1-0 winner over Haddon Heights in the South Jersey Group 2 title game.
It was a turnaround performance for Haddon Township, which lost to Audubon, 6-1 during the regular season.
Haddon Township junior Jordan Strauss continued her outstanding play in the state tournament. Strauss, a Siena College commit, won all four of Haddon Township’s South Jersey tournament games, allowing just four runs over 26 innings. She struck out 47 and walked 10 in the four wins.
Gloucester’s Olivia George has also been dominating in the state tournament. In the 1-0 sectional final win over Haddon Heights, she allowed just four hits, struck out four and walked one in a complete game effort.
She allowed just one run in 22 innings, while pitching in all four state tournament games. George struck out 26 and walked just five.
The three games between Haddon Heights and Gloucester couldn’t have been tighter. Gloucester won the first regular season game, 1-0 at home and then Heights returned the favor by winning the second regular season meeting 1-0.
The competition this season in the Colonial Conference, helped these teams in the postseason.
The other two public school South Jersey champions were Moorestown in Group 3 and Vineland in Group 4. Moorestown beat Mainland, 5-0 in the South Jersey Group 3 final. What’s interesting is that Moorestown lost by a 5-0 score to Shawnee in last year’s sectional final.
Moorestown senior Violet Marta had one of the best individual performances in a sectional final state-wide. In the shutout of Mainland, she pitched a complete game three-hitter, while striking out 11 and aided her cause by hitting a two-run home run.
That was the first sectional softball title for Moorestown, a member of the Olympic Conference.
Moorestown was the only one of the four champions that hadn’t faced its finals opponent in the regular season.
The other South Jersey public school winner was Vineland, which beat Cape Atlantic League foe Egg Harbor Township, 4-3.
It was the fourth time this year the teams met. Vineland won both regular season meetings, 6-3 and 9-6 EHT then beat Vineland, 8-0 in a Cape Atlantic League semifinal before getting revenge in the South Jersey Group 4 final.
Photo: Haddon Township pitcher Jordan Strauss / Marc Narducci
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Author: Marc Narducci
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