The SOFTBALL week in review: Week #2

Monday: 4-9-07

Jefferson puts up six runs, but still loses 10-6 to Blair Academy.

NHC Action: Courtney Raneri and four different Dodgers knock in runs for Madison in a 6-4 win over Villa Walsh. Montville beats St. Elizabeth 20-1. Lakeland beat Butler 12-6. Caldwell takes a lead in conference play with a 3-0 win over Pequannock. The Chiefs scored all three runs in the 6th. Sophomore, Megan Brain fanned 10 in the victory, but could not muster a run against Desi Giordano and Caldwell.

CHC: Cedar Grove beats Morristown-Beard 17-0 and Newark Academy beats Morris Catholic 9-3. Mountain Lakes was up 15-1 before Science made a late surge to close it to 16 10. Kinnelon pulls an upset beating Verona 4-1. Coach Jackson has already made her presence felt and Kinnelon will only get better. Whippany Park beat University 17-1.

IHC-Hills: Dover opens with a 12-0 win over Weequahic 0. Hanover Park squeaks by Chatham 3-2, as Tina Banta improves to 2-0. Morris Hills gets on the winning trail beating Par Hills 7-0. Parsippany 10-runs Summit, 10-0. A major conference match-up, West Essex scores 1 in the bottom of the 7th to overtake Mendham 3-2.

IHC-Iron: Livingston shuts out Randolph 9-0. Morristown down 5-2 after 5 score 2 in the 6th and two more in the bottom of the 7th to beat Roxbury 6-5. Mount Olive reamains strong beating West Morris 7-2.

Tuesday: 4-10-07

Non-Conference Games: Chatham, guided by Alex St. Romain’s 4-for-4 day, knocks off West Orange 6-2. Morris Knolls manages just 4 hits, but beats Hanover Park 5-2.
Mount Olive beats Hopatcong 11-1. Wayne Valley wins a tight one over Montville 3-2.

Conference Play: MSD gets by St. Elizabeth 12-0. Morris Hills explodes 10 runs in the last 4 innings guided by Michelle Bauer’s 2-run homerun to beat Parsippany 10-1. Villa Walsh edges Lakeland 3-2.

Wednesday: 1-14-07
Villa Walsh has a strong showing against Caldwell, but the Chiefs win 4-3. Montville responds from the Wayne Valley loss with an 8-3 victory over Madison. Pequannock beats Lakeland 4-1 and DePaul 10-runs Butler.

Hanover Park beats Weequahic 19-0. Chatham explodes offensively and beats Summit 14-0. Parsippany rebounds in a big way and knocks off Mendham 4-3. The Red Hawks lead 4-0 aided by Chrissy Deleasa’s two-run triple in the1st inning, then held off a Mendham comeback to pull the upset. Parsippany Hills 6 gets their 1st win by beating Dover 6-2. West Essex wins their second important, early IHC match-up, beating Morris Hills 5-1.

Kinnelon beats Science 15-0. Whippany Park improves to 4-1 with a 10-0 victory over Verona 0. The important win gives Whippany 2 wins over their main competition in the CHC and a good early lead in the conference race. Casey Musarra, a senior catcher, went 2-3 with a 2-RBI double. Senior Gabby Gruchacz also added two hits.

Pingry took an important conference game from Morris Catholic 4-3.

Iron-side: Livingston keeps West Morris winless with 5-3 loss. Randolph grabs their 1st win 3-2 over Roxbury 2. Morristown handcuff Knolls and wins 6-1. Mount Olive stays on par with a 11-0 victory over Columbia 0.

In the SCIL, Jefferson outscores Vernon 7-6.

Friday: 4-13-07

A lot of games were played despite the heavy rain on Thursday.

Caldwell continues to win close ones in the NHC, edging Montville 3-2. These key 1-run wins are key and important wins. Knowing how to win these games and having the confidence to excel in this situation makes and breaks you in June. Madison beats St. Elizabeth 5-2. Pequannock grabs a NHC victory over DePaul 6-1.

SCIL: Jefferson explodes for 12 runs in a 12-1 victory over Hopatcong.

Glen Ridge beats Mo-Beard 13-0. Mo. Catholic puts up 20 over Montclair Immaculate.

Hanover Park 10-runs Summit and Mendham beats Weequahic 18-0. Morris Hills 4 continues to play well with a 4-0 victory over Chatham. West Essex shuts outs Dover 3-0.

Morristown 13 continues to play well and explodes for 13 against Randolph 13-3. Roxbury gets their first in the win column with a 9-0 victory over Columbia. Joelle Cancelliere led the Gaels throwing a two-hitter and two doubles. West Morris stuns Morris Knolls 1-0 for their first victory.

Verona beats Boonton 6-1 and Whippany Park passes Science 17-1.

Saturday: 4-14-07

Villa Walsh Tournament: The Host Vikings go 2-0, starting the tournament with Mo-Beard, a 7-0 win. Villa followed with a championship win over cross-town rival St E’s 8-4.

IHC Challenge gave the fans all they could ask for. If you thought making a top was tough enough before, today really threw two or three wrenches in the system. I had mentioned that it’s anybody’s race and this week simply strengthens my theory. Mendham goes 2-0 with wins over Roxbury 10-1 and an Amy Appel led no hitter over Morristown 2-0. Morris Hills wins a thriller over Montville 2-1, then holds off Roxbury 3-1. Host Randolph has a banner day, going 2-0. The Rams win in the 8th inning, beating Dover 9-8 and stun Hanover Park 3-1. Chatham went 1-1, losing to Morristown and beating Lenape Valley. Hanover also beat Lenape. Montville knocked off Dover.

The Wallkill Valley Tournament was won by Pequannock. Megan Brain pitched the 1st game as the Panthers beat Phillipsburg 6-4. Her freshman sister was strong in the final, shutting out host Wallkill Valley 3-0. Wallkill had edged Mountain Lakes 6-5 to get to the final. The Lakers beat Phillipsburg in the consolation game.

Hackettstown Tournament was won by Mount Olive. A 12-4 victory over Butler set up a final win over Hackettstown. Emily Archer gave up only 2 hits and walked one for the shut out victory. Diana Noelle had 3 singles and scored 3 runs for the Marauders.

In Regular Season Action: North Hunterdon, a solid 6-0 team, edged Morris Knolls 1-0. The loss was the Denville’s school third straight as they fell to 3-3. Parsippany won the Mayor’s Cup in a great cross-town match-up against Parsippany Hills. The 5-2 victory was spurred by Rubino’s 9 K’s and Jen Nista’s home run and 3 RBI.

Boonton lost another close game, falling to Vernon 4-3.


Yep ... what a week. Where to start … ok … here’s my top 10. This is basically how I would seed the MCT if the meeting was held today:

1. Mount Olive (5-1): Strong team with 2 pitchers. This is very important. Don’t let Coach O fool you, this team can hit. They have scored 5 or more runs in every game.

2. Pequannock (6-2): Don’t let the two looses fool you. This is another team that can hit and will only begin to pound out runs as the weather improves. The Brain sisters are formidable hurlers and can be a dangerous combination.

3. Whippany Park (5-1): It’d be nice to have Whippany and Pequannock meet this week, but Mother Nature might just postpone that yearly meeting that always makes for great softball. Coach Callaghan has the Wildcats on the right path and the 10-0 victory over Verona was another big step in that direction.

4. Mendham (5-2): Mendham responded well from two early week losses. West Essex is that strong and Parsippany showed that they can play with anyone. The Minutemen responded with a 10-run spot on Roxbury and an impressive 2-0 no hitter over a red-hot Morristown team.

5. Morris Knolls (3-3): Tough, tough week for the Eagles after beating Hanover. Knolls needs to go back to the Morris Hills gym and pick up the bats they left. Coach Lazzaro and his reliable staff will have the Eagles ready to get back on their winnings ways. Many of you may be asking … how are they so high after losing to Morristown and a then-winless WMC? Conference play is war, especially in the Iron-side. North Hunderton is that good. This is where they’d be seeded by the coaches.

6. Morris Hills (5-3): Throw out that frigid opening weekend and Hills is hot. I wonder if they stole the Knolls bats after the MH tournament. All kidding aside, solid win over Montville. They are holding teams scoreless and coach Nieman hasn’t been screamin’. That’s a great combo for the Scarlet Knights.

7. Montville (3-3): Yep, another 3-3 team in the top and they could easily be top 3 with the right bounces. The Mustangs have 3 losses by a total of 3 runs … for all you non-math majors, that 3 one-run losses in 3 games. This is a solid team with a good pitching combination. They need to start winning those 1-run games to get closer to the top.

8. Jefferson (3-1): The Falcons are letting up runs and lots of them. But, if you can score more than you let up … well … you get the point. If the Falcons can cut back on he runs-against, look out … they’ll be back when everyone else maybe counting them out.

9. Parsippany (3-1): The rough couple of innings against Morris Hills maybe erased by the stunning next-day victory over a strong Mendham squad. The Red Hawks can move up and they have the pitching to do it.

10. Morristown (4-2): Wins over Morris Knolls, Randolph and Chatham give the Colonials a boost in the top-10 and the two losses definitely do not hurt. This is an up and coming team that is on the verge of a break-out year. I liked the team chemistry and confidence in the win over Chatham. The bats looked lively and pitching was solid.

Who else should be here?: Chatham is capable of being in here, but they need a quality win or two to get them over a few teams. Hanover Park can definitely be a top 10 team, all the pieces are there. Their best win was over Chatham, but the loss to Randolph combined with Morristown’s week keeps them out. Randolph is now 4-3. All three losses have been by 9 or more runs. The Mt. Olive game was close except for one break out inning when the Rams let up 8 runs. Randolph, as always, is the team you do not want in the MCT. Villa’ 4-3 loss to Caldwell opens your eyes, but a loss to Madison keeps them in that 11-18 range.

Player(s) of the Week: I am going teammates for co-players of the week for Week #2. Morristown had a great week lead by Rebecca Satz and Julie Camelotto. Satz had a two-run single in the bottom of the 7th to cap Morristown’s come-from-behind victory over Roxbury. Camelotto tripled in the game sending home two runners. In a key IHC-Iron victory over Morris Knolls, Julie Camelotto went 3-for-4 with three RBI. Satz added two hits and knocked in a run. Satz remained hot for the Colonials win a 13-3 victory over Randolph. The sophomore went 4-for-4 with a double, knocking in 4 runs and scoring 4 runs herself. In the 2-1, 10-inning victory over Chatham, Satz was on base 4 out of 5 times with 2 singles. Freshman 1st baseman Julie Camelotto had two hits in the game. The first was a single to lead off the second. The second was the all important shot to deep center that drove home the game ending run.


So what should you expect? You do not have to be a math teacher or brain surgeon to realize that the rain and cold will halt much of the play this weekend. Teams have had an opportunity to see their strengths and weaknesses. Pitching depth will become a huge factor if we lose more games. Of course, teams can always do the cheesy move and not reschedule games. This is an utter outrage to me, but it happens. As a coach, I would rather be rained out and forced to stay inside then play in 45 degrees or colder, 45? 52 or colder!

As always … all the best. I wish you luck and remember, I do his because I care, always have, always will. It’s all about getting the kids the recognition they deserve.

Enjoy.