DUI Lawyers in Hightstown, NJ

A weekend like this one has been a longtime coming for Paramus Catholic softball.

The Paladins, who not long ago were perennially only a four or five win team, have gradually improved every year under longtime coach Jack Casimiro.

First, there was a 10-win season in 2023, but the Paladins still finished under .500. Then there was a 16-10 campaign last year where they dropped some surprising contests against teams they should have beaten.

But all those results were in the service of a much bigger goal — one that came two big steps closer to being actualized on Sunday.

First, at the Cedar Grove Black and Gold Invitational on Sunday morning, the Paladins scored their first Top 20 win of the season when they beat No. 13 Middletown North and All-State pitcher Madilynn Boyce, 3-2 in extra innings, helped by a homer from freshman star Gabriela Perez.

Then, PC trekked to the northern reaches of Bergen County to Park Ridge for the Coaches vs. Cancer showcase where they took on perennial Bergen County power Old Tappan and cruised to a 9-1 victory in the process as well.

“This year, the girls believe more in who they are and in their talent,” Casimiro said. “They’re having fun, they’re playing well today, and they don’t quit.”

Now 12-2 through their first 14 games, PC’s only losses are to a state ranked Immaculate Heart team and an always tough Albertus Magnus (N.Y.) team. But among their wins are the two on Sunday plus results over a good River Dell team that beat Ramsey, a Wallington team with an All-State pitcher and a DePaul team that won Passaic County last year.

The Paladins likely figure to be a Top 8 seed in this year’s Bergen County Tournament and will get a first round bye as a result as a further proof of concept that what the Paladins have been doing this year has worked.

“Slowly, we’ve built kids around some key pieces and they’ve had faith and been patient,” Casimiro said. “The fact that we can win now with them here makes me so happy that they believed in the program.”

Players like Gianna Presutto, who has 24 hits, 22 runs and 25 RBI while hitting .649 and others have been mainstays of late. But a player like Perez, has shown the future is bright for PC.

She homered twice on Sunday — once against Midd North and once against Old Tappan — and she tossed six strong innings, allowing just one hit and one unearned run with five strikeouts against the Golden Knights.

“She’s a very mature kid and one of the most mature freshmen I’ve ever met,” Casmiro, who also won a section title as the head coach at Ridgefield, said. “She’s a fighter and she’s not easily intimidated.”

Hightstown leaves long trip on a high note

The team that commuted the furthest to Park Ridge on Sunday was CVC power Hightstown, which is in its first year under former Pascack Hills coach Lauren Brown.

Brown, who’s father, Chris is the Park Ridge AD and organized the event, guided her team to a dominant 9-0 win over Mahwah as pitcher Kady Olsen was fantastic, tossing a one-hitter and striking out 15.

Mahwah held Hightstown in check through the first four innings, with the Rams only leading 1-0 up to that point before exploding for eight more runs over the next three innings en route to the win.

“Once we started getting the bats going, all I had to do was command the zone and it was all fun and games because I trusted my defense and knew they’d make the plays,” Olsen said.

Olsen’s rise ball and offspeed pitches were in top form against the Thunderbirds and Brown — who herself was a former pitcher and pitching coach — admitted she didn’t know much about Olsen when she trekked to Mercer County but isn’t surprised the senior is having succcess.

“I always like having pitchers who when I say to be smart with two strikes, having a pitcher who’s able to have that discipline and work with different pitches is really important and has been really cool to see,” Brown said.

The win was Hightstown’s second in a row and they come after a 4-3 loss to GMC powerhouse and perennial Top 20 team St. Thomas Aquinas and a 1-0 loss to perennial power Robbinsville. But, they beat Notre Dame and have a chance for more statement wins with teams like Delran and Bordentown on the schedule.

And the strength of schedule is a much better and different one than Brown faced at Pascack Hills, as she saw by a 9-2 loss to Steinert two games into the season.

“We came out in the beginning of the season kind of shell shocked but we’ve just gotten stronger and stronger with each game and I don’t think we’re at our best yet,” Brown said.

Rams charging full steam ahead

After a surprising 1-2 start to the season that included an 8-7 loss to River Dell, usual state power and last year’s Group 2 finalists Ramsey have rounded into form.

Thanks to a five-inning, 13-2 win over Becton on Sunday, the Rams have now won nine in a row, downing quality Ridgefield Park, Indian Hills, Ridgewood, Mahwah and Rutherford teams in the process.

On Sunday, Ramsey managed to spread the wealth with seven players recording hits and all nine batters getting on base. EJ Mavrides and Lily Kriz both also hit home runs while Bella Baldino and Brooke Donofrio added extra-base hits as well.

And with Bergen County Tournament seeding looming this week as well as a rematch with River Dell plus a Big North crossover game with Ramapo and a divisional meeting with Indian Hills, this next stretch of games is a big one for coach Chris Caserta’s group.

“We’re not firing on all cylinders yet, but we’re trending in that direction,” he said. “We want to play our best softball in May and hopefully June, so we’re still trying to shake out the kinks but this was a good sign.”

Jake Aferiat can be reached at jaferiat@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him at @Jake_Aferiat.

The N.J. High School Sports newsletter is now appearing in mailboxes 5 days a week. Sign up now!

Follow us on social: Facebook | Instagram | X (formerly Twitter)

The fourth-seeded Hightstown High School softball team shocked top-seeded and state No. 5 Steinert, 2-1, in the Colonial Valley Conference semifinal on Monday night.

But that epic win only put the Rams in the final 24 hours later.

On Tuesday night, the Rams made sure their accomplishment a night earlier didn’t go for naught, backing up the upset with a 4-0, nine-inning win over third-seeded Notre Dame to win what is believed to be the program’s first-ever CVC title. Even the 2019 Group 4 state champs didn’t win the county crown.

Complete Box Score »

“If they did it, it hasn’t been for a very long time, but I couldn’t find it anywhere so I guess we’re the first,” said first-year coach Lauren Brown. “It means a lot to the girls, means a lot to me. This is the biggest game I’ve ever played or coached in.

“It was our goal to be as successful as the (2019) team that won states. We knew we had talented kids coming into the season, and we could capitalize if we stayed focused, so this was really big for us. Last night felt like the championship, but this game was far more important.”

Senior pitcher Kady Olsen capped a tremendous tournament with a thorough performance against the Irish. She set down the first nine batters and finished with a two-hit shutout, striking out eight, including the final batter of the game.

She also provided the game-winning RBI in the top of the ninth. After the Rams loaded the bases with nobody out, Olsen lined a single into left field for the first run of the game.

“I just had one job,” said Olsen. “I just had to put it in play.”

Two batters later, Sofia Hulme singled to left to score one run and when the ball was misplayed, two more runners came around.

“Coming from the big win, our girls had such great energy,” said Olsen. “We knew they were a hard team, but we gave it all we got. My girls had my back in the field, and I just had to do my job and throw strikes and focus on myself. I have no words, really, we all played really well.”

Hightstown loaded the bases with nobody out in the sixth but didn’t score and left 12 runners on base, but in the ninth, the Rams started at the top of the lineup and delivered five hits in the frame. Seton Hall-bound Olivia Pignatello singled off Notre Dame pitcher Biance Pesce for her second hit to start the rally.

Olivia Werdon reached base all five times and Hayden Bustos and Lilly Peto each singled twice for the Rams.

“We worked really hard all season and put it all together collectively,” said Pignatello. “We had some big wins this year and carrying all that into this we knew we had a chance. For me and Kady being seniors, it means everything.”

The Irish threatened only twice, though the first time almost proved to be the game winner. With two on and two out in the fourth, Pesce hit a sinking liner to center but Haylie Bustos played it perfectly, coming in and making a diving catch to thwart the rally.

“We’ve made plays this whole tournament I’ve never seen my kids do before,” said Brown. “That saved us a couple runs. The momentum we got from that play carried on.”

Said Olsen: “That was insane, but off the bat I knew she had it.”

The Irish moved the potential winning run into scoring position in the seventh, but Olsen induced a harmless pop-up to send the game to extra innings.

The hard-throwing right-hander put together a huge tournament. She homered twice and knocked in all five runs in the quarterfinals against Allentown, fanned 13 Steinert batters in the semifinal and did it all in the championship game when she and the Rams refused to be denied.

“She’s something else and she’s just the rock of our team,” said Brown. “Her coming up in the ninth to get that first run was one of those moments that felt like the perfect storybook ending.”

Bill Evans can be reached at bevans@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him at @bybillevans.

The N.J. High School Sports newsletter is now appearing in mailboxes 5 days a week. Sign up now!

Follow us on social: Facebook | Instagram | X (formerly Twitter)

3-Notre Dame (11-7) vs. 4-Hightstown (12-6)

Tuesday at Armstrong Park, 7

Notre Dame

Hightstown

Notre Dame will win if: The Irish need to continue the offensive production of the past two games when they scored 21 runs in two Colonial Valley Conference tournament games, snapping a five-game losing streak in the process.Addison Louderback has produced multiple hits in five straight games and continuing her hot streak will be. a benefit as the Irish look to win a third straight title. Madalena Creo is a player who has delivered several key home runs throughout her career and one in this game could go a long way. As a team, the Irish can also lean on their experience in this tournament.

Hightstown will win if: It can recover from its stunning 2-1 win over top-seeded and fifth-ranked Steinert on Monday night. There won’t be much time for the Rams to celebrate if they want to win the tournament. Senior pitcher Kady Olsen has been tremendous in this tournament. She homered twice and drove in all five runs in a quarterfinal win over Allentown and has allowed just two runs in two starts, including striking out 13 against one of the state’s better-hitting teams in the semifinal. She also shut out Notre Dame earlier this season. Olivia Pignatello has a hit in every game but one this season and had two in the previous meeting against the Irish while she has scored a run in four of the last five games. She’ll be one of the key players counted on to generate offense. This feels like a game where an early lead will be key, and if Hightstown could put a run up or even a couple in the top of the first, it could set the tone.

Prediction: Notre Dame 4, Hightstown 2

The N.J. High School Sports newsletter now appearing in mailboxes 5 days a week. Sign up now and be among the first to get all the boys and girls sports you care about, straight to your inbox each weekday. To add your name, click here.

Bill Evans can be reached at bevans@njadvancemedia.com. Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a subscription.

Thursday’s quarterfinal matchup of the CVC Tournament between third-seeded Hightstown and sixth-seeded Hopewell Valley will have to be decided another day.

Shortly after the scheduled start at 4:30, the skies opened up.

Only one inning of scoreless baseball was played before the game went into a rain delay and was ultimately postponed in Hightstown.

The rain arrived a few batters into the game and Hightstown’s Dominick Terranova got out of a bases-loaded jam with his second strikeout of the frame.

He struck out the first batter before the next three got aboard and he was forced to escape the threat with back-to-back outs.

Owen Lengle got the start for Hopewell Valley and walked the first two batters and ultimately faced a bases-loaded situation of his own. He got out of it with a pickoff at first.

Before the second inning could begin, the game was put in a rain delay. Roughly 20 minutes later, the game was officially postponed.

The winner of this game will face second-seeded Lawrence.

Brian Bobal may be reached at bbobal@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on X at @BrianBobal.

The N.J. High School Sports newsletter now appears in mailboxes 5 days a week. Sign up now!

Follow us on social: Facebook | Instagram | X (formerly Twitter)

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.