Softball week in review (week 1)

Softball – the week in review

Monday and Tuesday may have been a major tease to all Morris County Teams. The teams that were lucky enough to play definitely enjoyed playing in near perfect softball weather. The rest of the week, just brutal. Softball games should not have been played. The girls toughed it out and a handful of wintry softball matches went on.

Let’s just dig in … we’ll start with our top 10:

1. Pequannock (2-1): Noelle Ramirez and Tara Early accounted for 5 of Pequannock’s hits as the Panthers started the season 1-0 with a 6-2 victory over Madison. On Saturday, the Panthers faced two possible top teams – MSD and IHA. An impressive 5-0 win over IHA was followed by a tight 2-1 loss to MSD. Megan Brain has pitched all the innings for the Panthers.

2. Mt. Olive (1-1): Opened with an 11-0 victory over Randolph and lost to a strong Warren Hills team.

3. Morris Knolls (2-0): Two impressive wins over Pope John and Whippany Park. The Golden Eagles won the championship game of the Morris Hills Tournament with 8-0 shutout victory over Whippany. Maria O'Conner went all 14 innings in the brutal cold for both wins.

4. Whippany Park (2-1): Exploded for 11 runs against Morris Hills in the MH Tournament opener.

5. Montville (0-0): Was lucky enough to avoid playing in the freezing temperature.

6. Mendham (2-0): Maybe the team to watch in Morris. Opened with a 10-1 victory over sister school WMC followed by a 6-0 victory over Chatham.

7. Jefferson (1-0): A 7-4 victory over Wallkill Valley started the Falcons off 1-0.

8. Morris Hills (0-2): Started off 0-2 with two tough losses to Whippany Park and Pope John. Someone had to go 0-2 in the loaded tournament.

9. Parsippany (0-0): Another team lucky enough to avoid playing in the ice zone.

10. Hanover Park (1-0): Tina Banta lead the Hornets to victory after a year off for injury rehab. The Hornets improved hitting and a Banta-Buono pitching combo could lead to great things.

Right there:
Morristown: The Colonials lost to Ridge early in the week, but the Colonials are ready for the strong IHC schedule.

Hmmmmm:
Morris Catholic started off 2-0, outscoring their opponents 39-0.
Villa Walsh opened with a 7-0 victory over St. Elizabeth’s. Freshman hurler Michelle Tarantula could be a freshman to watch.

A Wintery Saturday

A day of rest for Morris County HS Sports. Well deserved for those teams that had to bear the brutal cold and wind on Thursday. Consider yourself lucky if your fields were too wet or you coach and AD canceled. There was no need to play in sub-40 degree temps. Lacrosse and Tennis are the only two sports, in my opinion, that should play in just about any temp’s. But no coach, athlete or fan should have to brave that weather for a spring sport.

On Monday and Tuesday, I was eating my words. Every year at this time, I reiterate that spring sports should start practice on March 15th. Opening day should be April 8th. The bizarre warm weather we had on Monday and Tuesday was an outlier that skews the temperature average. Today’s is what we expect for a week or two, even playing in 45-degrees on a weekday, after 4, gets cold. But we all know that there is more of a chance of the seasons starting earlier than every starting later.

The Track page is dedicated to your athletes, but we need your help. Most track coaches will always complain that they do not get enough coverage. They are ready to complain when they do not, but we are providing them a great opportunity to spotlight their athletes. The ball is in there court … umm … the shot in their circle. I want to thank the Morris Hills coaching staff for being a great host and also supplying us with scores.

It’s brutally cold again today. I would not even golf in this weather. But here’s your Morris County Schedule:

Baseball:

• Randolph 10 (2-0), Hunterdon Central 0 (0-3)
• Livingston 9 (1-1), Morris Knolls 8 (0-1)
• Montville 3 (1-0), Morristown 2 (1-1)
• Dover 8 (1-1), Morris Catholic 2 (0-2)
• Mount Olive 6 (1-0), Warren Hills 5 (1-2)
• Passaic Tech 14 (1-1), Pequannock 10 (1-1)
• Roxbury 16, Kearny 4
• Mtn Lakes @ Manchester Regional, 4:30
• Morris Hills @ High Point, CANCELED
  

Softball:

• Warren Hills 6 (3-0), Mount Olive 5 (1-1)

Morris Hills Tournament:

• Whippany Park 11 (2-0), Morris Hills 5 (0-1)
• Morris Knolls 4 (1-0), Pope John 3 (2-1)
  
• Championship: Morris Knolls 8 (2-0), Whippany Park 0 (2-1)
• Consolation: Pope John 3 (1-1), Morris Hills 1 (0-2)

MSD Tournament

• Mount St. Dominic 2 (2-0), Pequannock 1 (2-1)

• Pequannock 5 (2-0), Immaculate Heart 0 (0-2)

Boys Lacrosse:
• Mountain Lakes 10 (3-0), Moorestown 4 (0-2)

Kinnelon 12, Glen Ridge 6
Morristown @ SHP, 11
• Randolph 10 (1-1), West Essex 3 (0-1)

• Delbarton 13 (3-0), Ramapo 2 (1-1)
• Mendham 15 (2-1), Livingston 3 (0-1)
• Caldwell 10 (1-1), Montville 3 (1-1)
• DePaul 13 (2-1), Morris Hills 6 (0-1)
Roxbury @ West Morris, 11
• Somerville 9 (1-2), Morris Knolls 6 (0-2)

Girls Lacrosse:
• Mendham 16 (2-0), Livingston 0 (0-1)
• Montville 11 (2-0), Sparta 10 (1-2)

More Morris County College Softball Players

Posted on the Mirror Sports Blog: This is the sports blog for the Fairfield University Mirror - The independent student newspaper of Fairfield University.

Whippany Park Alum: Trifiolis leads softball in an 6-5 victory over Hartford (April 5, 2007)

Fairfield is now 9-14, with many of those losses coming at the hands of NCAA Top 20 schools (UNC, Utah and San Diego St.). The Stags are on a three game winning streak.

The Freshman has 16 hits and 14 runs in 25 games. The home run yesterday were her second of her college career, also add 5 stolen bases without being caught.

Fairfield is 3-1 in the MAAC, one game behind St. Peter's (11-9, 4-0)

And ... We're off!

It was bitter cold today. What a vast contrast to Monday and Tuesday. Mother Nature givith ... then take it away ... while kicking you the rear!

If you have not been to MCHSS.net , you really need to see what we're doing.

• Track: Morris Hills v. Mendham v. Weequahic
• Softball: Mt Olive 11 - Randolph 0 (4-5-07)
• Tennis: Madison 4 - Whippany Park 1 (4-4-07)
• Baseball: Madison 5 - Dover 4 (4-1-07)

Morris County Results for

• Baseball/Softball
• Boys & Girls Lacrosse
  

Also: Morris County H.S. Schedules - by School

ENJOY!

County Grads face off in th NJAC - Softball

Whitney Driver (Montville/Morristown-Beard) and Carolyn McCrea (Wharton/Jefferson HS) are BIG contributors to this the success of Montclair State Univeristy Softball. The Red Hawks are now 19-2, 4-0 NJAC; (Home: 7-0; Away: 3-0; Neutral: 9-2)

Driver has 7 hits and is playing Right Field. The junior has started all 18 games in which she has played and has 14 putouts.

McCrea is 13-1 in 16 appearances. She thrown 12 complete games in 13 starts with 5 shut outs. In 91.2 innings, she’s giving up 60 hits and yielded 13 runs with 89 strikeouts.

Montclair played Rutgers-Newark in NJAC play today. The Raiders came home from their Florida trip winning 6 of 7. Today, they lost to Montclair 6-0 and 8-2. Playing for Rutgers-Newark are Morris Hills Alum Shauna Gallagher and Hanover Park Grad Carrie McGuire. Gallagher has 16 hits (2 Triples, 2 HR’s with 15 RBI) and has scored 16 runs in 20 games. McGuire has 8 hits and 5 runs, with 7 RBI.

Tuesday's notes

I am always the first to complain that the season starts too early. Mother Nature made me eat my words … it was a great opening day weather-wise in Morris.

Even better, Coach Carchietta finished 2nd in two NCAA pools (obviously for fun). I am still very upset with UNC and their ultimate CHOKE! But then again, they win and maybe I do not finish in the top 3. It still annoyed the heck out me.

Hopefully, you like the new look MCHSS.net. We shortened the name, so you can get there easier. We added Video and Photo highlights. We have partners in photography and video, in addition to the pics/movies taken by the staff. We actually have a staff! Something I did not anticipate until September. But don’t be happy for me … NO … be happy for the kids. We’ll be able to get more publicity to the student athlete and dedicate our site to promoting high school athletes in a positive manner.

I am sure that you have read the papers, so there is no need for me to go around the horn and touch-on every game. One thing for sure, look for the lacrosse scores to start dominating the sports pages. More schools have picked up the sport. Morris Knolls (boys) played their first varsity game, a 13-4 loss to Cranford. Morris Catholic (girls) took the field for the first time at the Varsity level, a 18-9 loss to Verona.

Baseball: It was not easy to gauge where to put Jefferson and Pequannock in the ranking. Even so, both teams started off with well, Pequannock with a quality win over Blair and Jefferson putting up 11 on Newton.

In case you haven’t seen it yet, The Coach was at Dover for Madison’s 5-4 victory over the Tigers. You can see coverage at: MCHSS.net.

With the forecast looking bleak for the rest of the week, The Coach wanted the staff out and about today. Dave Roberts will be covering Whippany Park and Madison in Tennis. The schedule is thin and most games are away. The Coach is stumped. Maybe Boonton or West Morris (Boys Lax), although I would prefer two Morris teams. Maybe Jefferson and Sparta girls lax … it maybe a last minute decision.

Here's your weather forcast: Morristown Weather Forecast, NJ

IHC - Hills Division Baseball Preview

You can read our baseball preview at: http://www.mchss.net/.