H.S. softball: It's bombs away for Bordi as Haddon Heights captures S.J. title

EGG HARBOR CITY – Sophia Bordi will forever have a souvenir from one of the greatest performances in South Jersey title game history.

After the freshman blasted three home runs and struck out 15 batters en route to a shutout during the Haddon Heights High School’s softball team’s 8-0 championship-clincher at Cedar Creek, Pirates coach Shawn Cohen presented her with a game ball.

“I told her I’d give her the other one, but I don’t think it’s landed yet,” Cohen quipped.

Bordi said she has dreamt about hitting a home run in a championship game.

Maybe even two bombs.

But three homers? No way.

“It’s just a dream to have a game like this,” Bordi said. “Coming into the game, I was excited and nervous at the same time. But if we played with great energy, I knew we could win this. We’ve been working for this.”

Haddon Heights head coach Michelle Schlichtig-Hastings probably felt like she was dreaming when she watched Bordi slug home runs in three consecutive at-bats.

“She brought it (Thursday), she came to play,” Schlichtig-Hastings said. “The home runs are the most impressive. Sometimes as a pitcher, it’s hard to be checked in with both hitting and pitching."

After hitting solo shots in the third and fifth innings, Bordi’s third bomb was jaw dropping – a moonshot that likely traveled over 250 feet way over the left-field fence.

“I’ve only seen one ball hit farther than that one and it was one she hit in BP – and that’s any level,” said Hastings, who played and coached at the collegiate level.

Cohen said he’s never seen a ball hit farther at the field and he’s been with the program since it debuted 13 years ago.

Bordi, who won a home run derby at the University of Oklahoma during a camp in the offseason, blasted three homers in her first two scholastic games. While she hadn't hit a homer since April 29, she now has nine round-trippers for the season.

Almost lost in all of her offensive fireworks was Bordi’s pitching performance. The right-hander silenced a potent Pirates lineup on four hits and didn't allow a runner to advance past second base. She had no walks, but hit a batter.

Bordi fanned the side in the third and sixth innings en route to her 14th double-digit strikeout game in 15 starts. The only start she didn’t reach 10 or more, she punched out nine batters.

For the season, she has 226 strikeouts in 99 innings.

Asked what she could do for an encore after this performance, the humble freshman just smiled.

Maybe she’ll dream something up.

What it means

Haddon Heights (20-4) captured its first sectional title since 2013. The Garnets will await Friday’s Central Jersey Group 2 winner between Bordentown and Metuchen for a state semifinal matchup. That game will be played on Wednesday at the Central Jersey champion.

Cedar Creek, which defeated a Bordi-less Haddon Heights squad on its way to the Overbrook Tournament title in April, fell to 24-6. The Pirates clinched the Cape-Atlantic League National Conference crown and advanced to the inaugural CAL Tournament championship.

“This has been by far the most fun year in my career,” Cohen said. “How they played, how they had each other’s backs, win or lose, it was so much fun coaching them.”

Back-to-back titles

Junior Maddy Clark knew what it felt like to win a sectional championship before Thursday. She was a part of the Heights’ basketball team that captured a South Jersey Group 2 title in March.

“To be a part of two of the most special teams in this school’s history, it’s the most amazing feeling ever,” said Clark, who is already committed to play softball at Lehigh. “There was no doubt in my mind that this team could win a title. I knew it was going to be a great year for this crew.”

Clark, who scuffled out of the gate early in the season, is heating up at the most important time of the year. She has eight hits in four postseason games, none bigger than the two-run homer she hit in the first inning against Cedar Creek.

“She’s peaking at the right time,” Schlichtig-Hastings said. “She’s dealt with some frustration this season and she’s handled it like an adult. ... She’s a phenomenal athlete."

Clark’s homer certainly set the tone, but it also helped in another way, according to Bordi.

“It was a bomb,” Bordi said of Clark's third homer of the season. “It took away a lot of the nerves right at the start of the game.”

Change of color

Goodbye blond, hello….pink?

Schlichtig-Hastings was all smiles throughout the postgame celebration until her players reminded the coach of her promise.

“What a stupid agreement, I should have known better with this team,” Hastings grumbled as she realized she would be donning a new shade of pink in her locks.

It wasn’t the first time the topic of colors came up at the game.

With one out in the bottom of the fourth inning, the contest was stopped by an umpire, who asked to see Clark’s tri-colored glove. A two-tone glove is OK, but a tri-colored glove is against the rules and Clark had to toss it out. The shortstop borrowed Alicia Morano’s glove to finish the game.

Tom McGurk is a regional sports reporter for the Courier-Post, The Daily Journal and Burlington County Times, covering South Jersey sports for over 30 years. If you have a sports story that needs to be told, contact him at (856) 486-2420 or email tmcgurk@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @McGurkSports. Help support local journalism with a digital subscription.

This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: H.S. softball: It's bombs away for Bordi as Haddon Heights captures S.J. title