A storied softball coach established New Jersey history while a boys’ tennis player swept to anther championship to highlight the performances of our local high school athletes this past week.
Tom Erbig, Middletown High School South’s head softball coach, gained victory No. 722 when Maddie McMahon hit two home runs and drove in nine runs while going 4-4 as the Eagles defeated Freehold Township, 17-7.
Those 722 triumphs for Erbig are the most of any scholastic softball coach in the history of New Jersey.
Later in the week, McMahon collected a double and two RBI and pitched a five-hitter as the Eagles defeated Immaculata, 6-1 at the Stephanie Coona Don’t’ Stop Believin’ Softball Classic
East Brunswick High School’s Joshua Marchalik won his third consecutive Greater Middlesex Conference Boys’ Tennis Tournament first singles championship when he defeated J.P. Stevens’ Vishal Walia, 6-1, 7-5, in the final.
The tournament was played at Thomas A. Edison Park in Edison.
Marchalik will be the defending NJSIAA singles champion when that tournament gets underway next month.
There was a consolation prize for Walia, however. J.P. Stevens has a winning streak of its own. The Hawks captured their fourth straight GMC team championship while collecting 46 points to runner-up East Brunswick’s 40.
Gianna DeMato scored five goals and added four assists in leading St. John Vianney’s girls’ lacrosse team to a 15-9 victory over Colts Neck in Holmdel.
It was an historic day for the Lancer as the five goals lifted her career total to 200, making her the first player in program history to reach that milestone.
Edison High School’s Lauren Cassella collected seven goals and one assist to spark the Eagles to an 18-9 victory over its township rival, J.P. Stevens, in Edison.
New Egypt High School’s Brady Manion had a 10-point game when the Warriors defeated Rancocas Valley, 18-10. Manion rung up eight goals to go with two assists.
He is the second Warrior boys’ lacrosse player to amass a 10-point game this year. Teammate Kyle Prouty recorded seven goals and three assists in a 13-12 victory over Donovan Catholic.
Jimmy Tovey’s goal with just 1:22 left in regulation lifted the St. Joseph’s High School of Metuchen’s boys’ lacrosse team to a 9-8 victory over rival Monroe. With that victory, St. Joseph claimed the Greater Middlesex Conference Division championship.
Tovey had three goals and an assist in the game to pace the Falcons to their first division title since 2012.
St. Joe’s is 9-1 in division play and Monroe, 8-2.
Ashley Marino helped Raritan defeat Bernards, 11-9, in the Stephanie Coonan Don’t Stop Belivin’ Softball Classic game in Hazlet. She had two RBI and two runs scored in the non-conference games.
The Coonan Classic, which showcases softball teams from throughout the state, raises funds for a scholarship in the honor of Coonan, a former Rocket co-captain who passed away from stomach cancer at the age of 24.
Raritan is off its best start in program history at 9-2.
Pitcher Jordan Winston allowed just one earned run, fanned four and walked no one over seven full innings of work as Allentown High School upset Steinert, the top-ranked baseball team in the state, 4-2.
Ryan Huth had a two-run double and scored a run for the Redbirds.
Howell High School’s Rachel Kern registered one of the longest javelin throws in the state this spring, 136-10, when she won the event at the Georgian Court High School Challenge at Georgian Court University in Lakewood.