ORANGE, NJ – Guided by head coach Pete Naumowicz and assistant coach Stephanie Ross, the Orange High School varsity softball team enjoyed a banner season.
The Tornadoes won the Super Essex Conference-Freedom Division with a 16-0 record and finished with a 17-3 overall record. It was the first division title in program history.
In addition, the Tornadoes qualified for the state tournament for the first time in five years. OHS fell to Cranford in the NJSIAA North Jersey Section 2, Group 3 state tournament first round, but the Tornadoes never gave up, much to Naumowicz’s delight.
OHS managed to finish undefeated in the division with two hard-fought wins with Golda Och and the final division game with University in which the Tornadoes came back from a 10-1 deficit and five-run deficit in the top of the seventh inning to win by five runs.
OHS had several players receive All-SEC-Freedom Division honors. First Team honorees were Ashley Moscoso, Orezia Logus, and Amanda Anderson. Second Team honorees were Andifer Santana, Stefany Aguliar, and Jasmira Cordova. Honorable Mention went to starting catcher Keturah Cohen, who played most of the season through different injuries, Naumowicz said.
Naumowicz, who is also the OHS girls’ head soccer coach, received the Coach of the Year Award for the “Big O” for the work he and his staff put in with the OHS girls’ soccer team and softball team.
“That award was only possible due to assistant coach Stephanie Ross, who I feel is also coach of the year, and our student-athletes who put school first and then work hard as athletes in the off-season, pre-season, and during the season. Without their commitment, we could never accomplish such goals as (reaching) states for first time in soccer and states for first time in five years in softball.”
Naumowicz is looking forward to next season in softball. “We are losing only one senior athlete and are moving up a division to the Independence Division to play the following schools: Technology, East Orange Campus, Irvington, North 13th Street, Golda Och, Barringer, Newark Tech, and Immaculate Conception. We will be poised to compete at a higher level with three-year starting pitcher Ashley Moscoso leading our team, along with three-year fellow co-captain Orezia Logus. Amanda Anderson was listed by NJ.com as the 18th-best sophomore in the state of New Jersey. Amanda Anderson led the team in runs with 51 and stolen bases with 61. Ashley Moscoso led the team in hits with 38, RBIs with 46, home runs with four, and average at .691.
“Coach Ross and I are proud of the team’s performance this season.”
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