Girls remain unbeaten in Sky
By: Rudy Brandl
The Manville High softball team will be playing ball at least until the end of the month.
Manville’s regular season finale, scheduled for today (Thursday) on the road at Jonathan Dayton Regional in Springfield, was moved to May 31 after the NJSIAA came out with the schedule for the Central Jersey Group 1 playoffs.
The Lady Mustangs will be playing their first state playoff game at Metuchen that day. Since all NJSIAA games take priority over regular season contests, Manville’s season will extend into next week no matter what happens in the first round of the states.
The MHS girls remained unbeaten in Sky Division play with Thursday’s 11-0 mercy rule victory over St. Mary’s in Elizabeth. Manville improved to 11-5 overall and 9-0 in the division with three Sky games remaining. Dayton is still within striking distance in the division, so Manville must complete its unbeaten run to wrap up sole possession of the championship.
Manville, which was rained out twice vs. Newark Technology last week, was scheduled to host Roselle Tuesday. If Dayton continues to win, that May 31 showdown will have significance.
MHS posted a 10-5 win over Dayton in Manville back in April.
"They gave us a pretty good game the last time we played them," Manville head coach Ed Knapp said. "They’re going to want some revenge at their place in the last game of the year. We’ll have to match their intensity."
MHS senior Christine Bradley will be primed to end her scholastic career with a special outing. Dayton generated some offense vs. Bradley the first time around but the Manville ace will be looking to show her dominant form to clinch sole possession of the league crown.
Bradley was brilliant in last Thursday’s blowout in Elizabeth. She fired five innings of no-hit ball with 13 strikeouts. She also belted a double to help the offense, which pounded out 16 hits while scoring all of its runs in the first three frames. Manville took a 3-0 lead in the first and made it 10-0 with a seven-run second inning.
Senior outfielder Jen Janovsky also had a big day at the plate, going 3-for-3 with one run and one RBI. Senior catcher Karyssa Snell roped a double and second baseman Katie Lukacs rocked a home run in the victory.
No matter what happens in the state playoffs, the Lady Mustangs are closing in on a Sky Division title. They probably won’t do any worse than split the championship, but the MHS girls can have it all to themselves with a May 31 victory at Dayton.

