【N.J】 Notre Dame, Robbinsville, Steinert still alive among CVC team in softball playoffs – – – New Jersey News

Following a three-day break over the holiday weekend, three Mercer County softball teams will resume their seasons with a parochial power collision on Tuesday and two more sectional semifinals on Wednesday.

Tuesday’s game is between arguably two of the top three teams in the state with St. John Vianney headed to Notre Dame in a South Jersey Parochial A showdown.
On Wednesday, the Central Jersey Group III semifinals line up with with Robbinsville hosting Middletown North and Steinert traveling to Colts Neck.

St. John Vianney (24-1) at Notre Dame (21-2) – Something has to give between these two powers. SJV’s only loss was a wild extra-inning affair in the finals of the Shore Conference Tournament to Donovan Catholic (30-1), which has lost only to Notre Dame in extra innings. The star of the SJV show is freshman pitcher Madison McDougall, who has 200 strikeouts in 120 innings and is batting .603 with 47 hits. SJV has also hit 46 homers with Holly Lovett, Gabby Gonzalez and Elisabeth Figiolino all in double digits in that category. Obviously, Notre Dame ace Rylee Michalak (206 strikeouts in 107 innings) will have to be at her best and she certainly looked ready on Thursday when she threw a perfect game and struck out 18 in a quarterfinal round game against Immaculata. It’s all a matter of which team can scratch out a run or two because this certainly looks like a close low-scoring game. The winner will take on the survivor of the Donovan Catholic-St. Thomas Aquinas game on Friday. Donovan Catholic will host the final if its wins.

Steinert (17-5) at Colts Neck (19-7) – The top seed, Colts Neck features a very good freshman pitcher in Angelo Sasso (162 Ks).  The Shore Conference team has also put up some good offensive numbers, most notably by senior Cassidy Relay. She comes into this game with 47 hits and 38 runs scored. Infielder Ellie Mager is next with 35 hits. The defending sectional champ and a state finalist last year, Steinert appears to be peaking at the perfect moment. The Spartans are coming off a 20-0 destruction of Allentown and senior Isabella Bonacci also appears in top form with just one run allowed in her last three games. When the Spartans are hitting they are one of the most potent teams in the state. Their top batters include senior Ceara O’Neal (40 hits, four homers, .548), and freshmen Mia Pope (.492) and Bianca Walsh (.507). This is a rematch from the 2021 sectional final that Colts Neck won, 10-1, en route to a state title.

Middletown North (20-5) at Robbinsville (20-5) – The biggest strength for the Shore Conference team is sophomore pitcher Madilynn Boyce. She has 298 strikeouts in 144 innings and is pitching to an ERA of 1.02. Adrianna Lisotto leads the team with 29 hits. The Ravens come in hot. They have won eight of their last nine and the lone loss was an impressive near 2-1 miss against Notre Dame in the Mercer County Tournament final. Robbinsville has excellent speed and plenty of contact hitters. Ariana Tomlinson leads the way with a .508 average, while Katie Fowler, Haley Krebs (team high 36 hits) are both over .400.  Caroline Walls (.381) also helps set the table batting high in the order. Robbinsville righty Katie Ziliani has emerged as one of the top pitchers in the entire area in her junior season. She averages approximately one strikeout per inning and has an ERA of 1.52. Robbinsville is also one of the best fielding teams around and catcher Tuleen Ali makes it hard to run on the Ravens.