H.S. softball: Haddon Heights takes huge step in history-making journey

TOMS RIVER – Beat Donovan Catholic.

That was the ultimate goal for the Haddon Heights High School softball team, according to head coach Michelle Schlichtig-Hastings.

“First day of tryouts, I brought Maddy (Clark) and Sophia (Bordi) to the side and said I don’t care about the conference, I don’t care about states, I want to beat Donovan Catholic in the Tournament of Champions.”

The mission was accomplished on Wednesday.

The Garnets sent shockwaves throughout the Garden State, knocking off the two-time TOC defending champ and nationally ranked Non-Public A squad from Toms River by a 6-1 count.

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Haddon Heights became the first team from South Jersey to win two games at the Tournament of Champions and advanced to Friday’s title game in the final year of the event. The Garnets (23-4) earned the right to play on the season's final day when they face off against Group 4 state champ Watchung Hills in the championship game at Newark’s Ivy Hill Park. First pitch is slated for 7 p.m.

“The history we’ve already made this season and we continue to write, it’s absolutely amazing,” junior shortstop Clark said. “We knew we had nothing to lose and they had everything to lose in this game.”

Few gave Haddon Heights a puncher’s chance of knocking out the champ. But they were the ones who hadn’t seen freshman Sophia Bordi pitch this season.

Bordi continued to display utter dominance in the circle. She took a shutout into the seventh inning against a team that hadn’t been shut out in four years. Donovan Catholic notched just the third run she allowed in eight starts (55 innings).

She finished with a five hitter that featured 14 strikeouts, raising her season punch-out total to 294 in just 128 innings.

“With (Bordi) in the circle, there’s nobody this team can’t beat and they know it,” Schlichtig-Hastings said. “I wanted really wanted to beat Donovan Catholic. Obviously, we would have to achieve our other goals of winning South Jersey and states to get there and we did.”

Asked if that’s because Donovan Catholic set the standard for softball in New Jersey, the coach replied, “I think they’re the standard for softball in the entire Northeast.”

Key inning

Haddon Heights mustered just three hits against Donovan Catholic starter Julia Apostolakos, but the Garnets grouped the knocks together in a momentum-swaying six-run fifth inning.

After a walk and an error put runners on the corners, freshman Sami Szabo got a squeeze bunt to fall in front of a diving third baseman Alyssa Apruzzi to plate the first run.

“She got her nerves out in that Bordentown game with a couple of tough plays,” Schlichtig-Hastings said. “We talked about that, she adjusted and she’s been like a kid on the playground since then. She knew she had a job and she was going to do it.”

With two outs, a fielding errors brought in two runs before Clark lined a run-scoring single and sophomore Gracie Granate delivered a two-run double to break the game wide open.

“They don’t,” the coach said when asked if her team ever surprises her. “Six runs, I will say that I wasn’t expecting that, but I’m not surprised at anything this team does."

Worth the trip

Haddon Heights is racking up the miles on the yellow school bus over the last week.

Roundtrips to Newark, Denville and Toms River have totaled 490 total miles in five days. Another trip to Ivy Hill Park will tack on 170 miles on Friday.

“There’s a lot of hair braiding, lots of naps, lots of taking pictures of each other, but it really has made us a lot closer,” Clark said.

“It’s like a hair salon (on the bus),” Schlichtig-Hastings said. “It’s not ideal, but they knew they were going to have to do it.”

A win on Friday and the Garnets will be wearing a crown on the way home.

Top-ranked Griffins go down

Donovan Catholic entered the game with a 48-game winning streak that dated back to last season.

For the Griffins, Bordi’s change of speeds kept them off balance all game long.

“Her changeup hurt us a little bit,” Donovan Catholic head coach Debbie Schwartz said. “This time of the season, you’re going to see the best pitchers survive here. That kid pitched a hell of a game today.”

The Griffins only trailed a couple times this season, and a six-run deficit is the biggest they’ve faced in a couple years. After surrendering six runs in one inning, it took the wind out of their sails.

“They just put the ball in play, and we didn’t rise to the occasion,” Schwartz said. “We made the errors to give them the advantage.”

Despite the upset, Donovan Catholic had another dominant season. The Griffins rolled through the Shore Conference Tournament on their way to a third overall conference title and defeated Mount St. Dominic 2-0 in the Non-Public A final to capture their third consecutive state crown.

Donovan Catholic finished the Tournament of Champions era with two overall titles.

“I’m proud of my girls,” Schwartz said. “To play perfect is really hard.”

Asbury Park Press reporter Daniel LoGiudice contributed to this story.

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: Haddon Heights takes huge step in history-making journey