MAPLEWOOD/SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — The Columbia High School softball team hopes to make another strong run in the postseason.
The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association’s state sectional tournaments will begin Wednesday, May 28. The seeding was scheduled to be announced this week. The Cougars this season will compete in the NJSIAA’s North Jersey, Section 2, Group 4 state tournament.
The Cougars reached the North Jersey, Section 1, Group 4 state tournament final in each of the past two seasons. They defeated Livingston the sectional final in 2023 at Livingston and lost to Morristown at home in the sectional final last season.
In the Essex County Tournament semifinals, the second-seeded Cougars lost to third-seeded Mount St. Dominic, 8-5, at Ivy Hill Park in South Orange on Friday, May 16. It marked the third straight season that the Cougars lost to MSD in the ECT semifinals.
Sophomore Maya Bernstein went 3-for-4 with an RBI; junior Eva Clevenger with 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI; senior Anna Shalom went 2-for-4 with an RBI; junior Abby Coulter went 1-for-3 with a double; and freshman Jamie Tarrow had a single and an RBI.
Columbia had its six-game winning streak end and moved to a 16-4 record. CHS lost to MSD, 13-6, on May 1, before going on the win streak.
MSD defeated top-seeded Cedar Grove, 6-2, in the final the next day to win the ECT title for the second straight season.
CHS also lost to MSD on Monday, May 19, in a Super Essex Conference–Amerian Division game at Meadowland Park. Bernstein had a home run and two RBI, and junior Claire Shupe had two singles for the Cougars, who moved to a 16-5 record on the season.
In earlier action, the Cougars defeated Cedar Grove, 1-0, in a divisional game on Monday, May 12, at Cedar Grove. Shalom had a single and drove in Tarrow for the lone run in the top of the seventh and final inning. Shupe pitched a no-hitter with six strikeouts and two walks. Clevenger went 2-for-3. Shupe, Coulter and Tarrow each had a single.
Columbia defeated Union Catholic, 10-3, on Tuesday, May 13, at Meadowland Park field in an independent game. Clevenger went 2-for-3 with five RBI; Tarrow went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI; Berstein, senior Campbell Connell and senior Scarlett Levinson each had a single and an RBI; junior Lexi Kaplan went 2-for-2. Sophomore Elyse Hermes went the distance, striking out seven.
CHS will host Wayne Valley on Thursday, May 22, at 5 p.m. and visit Morris Knolls on Friday, May 23, at 10 a.m. in Denville.
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