SECOND TEAM ALL-STATE
UT: Savanna McHale, Weehawken, Jr.
No stranger to All-State teams, McHale was one of the best two way players in the state for one of the best Group 1 schools in the state. The Binghamton commit finished eighth in the state in strikeouts with 264, with an ERA of .34 and just 56 hits allowed in 143 2/3 innings. She struck out 10-plus batters in 17 games and had an equally good year at the plate. She hit .473 with 43 hits, 30 runs, 35 RBI, with six homers and 21 extra-base hits on the year as well.
THIRD TEAM ALL-STATE
UT: Giana Yaniero, Rutherford, So.
One of the best two-way players in the state, Yaniero finished 10th in the state in strikeouts with a career-high 257, pitching to a .78 ERA and allowing 90 base runners (70 hits, 20 walks) in 125 innings for a WHIP well under 1. She got at least one hit in every single game she played for the Bulldogs with 13 multi-hit games as well. She notched 43 hits total on the year and hit .573 with 26 RBI, five runs scored, 10 walks and two home runs.
First Team All-Group 1
P: Savanna McHale, Weehawken, Jr.
C: Envey Duran, Weehawken, So.
OF: Rhi’Anna Gomez, North Arlington, Jr.
UT: Natalie Graham, Emerson, Sr.
Second Team All-Group 1
P: Delilah Tabaka, Wallington, So.
P: Brooke Stellato, Wood-Ridge, So.
C: Emily Barbire, Hawthorne, Sr.
INF: Erika Stewart, Park Ridge, Jr.
OF: Madison Brickley, Saddle Brook, Jr.
OF: Emily Fearon, Secaucus, Sr.
UT: Brooke McHale, Weehawken, So.
Third Team All-Group 1
P: Daniela Brescia, New Milford, Sr.
P: Mackenzie Riordan, Hasbrouck Heights, So.
NF: Alexis Helman, Park Ridge, Sr.
OF: Amanda Cicero, Park Ridge, Jr.
First Team All-Group 2
P: Giana Yaniero, Rutherford, So.
Third Team All Non-Public
P: Gabriella Weiss, Lodi Immaculate, Jr.
NJIC Wrap up:
The NJIC showed yet again that some of North Jersey’s smallest schools can still make a big impact in myriad ways.
Weehawken once again established itself as a Hudson County power by winning the county title against Group 4 power Bayonne while also making it back to the section final.
Rutherford got bounced early from the playoffs, but the Bulldogs were one of Bergen County’s top teams for much of the season while Glen Rock rattled off 35 straight NJIC wins at one point this season. Emerson and Park Ridge went back-and-forth in some epic battles and several teams pulled off upsets along the way as well.
Check out everything that happened this year in the NJIC.
Player of the Year
Savanna McHale once again established herself as one of the state’s preeminent two-way players as she garnered All-State honors for the second year in a row and pitched to a .34 ERA with 264 strikeouts in 143 2/3 innings, allowing just 56 hits and 13 walks in that span as well. At the dish, she went 43-for-90 (.473) with 30 runs, 35 RBI six homers and six walks, as she, along with sisters Brianna and Brooke as well as catcher Envey Duran gave Weehawken arguably four of the best players anywhere in North Jersey and the entire state.
Coach of the Year
Few, if any coaches in the state had to deal with what Lodi Immaculate coach and former Blue Wolves ace Sarah Piening did. She guided the Blue Wolves to the North, Non-Public B section final in the program’s final season of existence, after the school announced in March that it’d close at the end of the year. She and most of the team are going to St. Mary’s (Ruth). next year but before that, they worked hard to keep the legacy alive of a program that won a record seven straight state titles, winning Non-Public B every year from 2013-19. They went 19-6 this season.
Team of the Year
After winning the first girls section title in any sport in school history last year, Weehawken followed that up this year by winning the first girls county title in any sport in program history and first county title in general since 1980. They then showed that last year was no fluke, as they made the section final yet again but ran into a buzzsaw of a Cedar Grove team and lost 3-1. Coach Raquel Roder’s squad gave up just 24 runs in 27 games as Savanna McHale garnered All-State honors for the second year in a row.
Other division winners
Pompton Lakes had one of its best seasons in recent history as well and won 20 games with a Passaic County title to boot, the program’s first since 2001 and one wherein they scored five runs in the top of the seventh to mount the comeback and secure the win. The Cardinals also won the Colonial Division with an 11-1 record, with their only division loss coming to a solid Glen Rock team. Elsewhere, Ridgefield took home the Liberty Division crown and Lodi Immaculate won the Meadowlands in its final season while Weehawken (National) and Emerson (Patriot) each went 12-0 to win their respective divisions as well.
Romano’s remarkable comeback
Maybe the comeback story in all of softball this year belonged to Becton outfielder Ava Romano, who nearly died back in January after suffering a bilateral pulmonary embolism only to stage a remarkable and miraculous comeback and return to playing softball five months later.
Group 1 Rankings
- 1-Cedar Grove (27-3)
- 2-Clayton (27-2)
- 3-Weehawken (26-3)
- 4-Audubon (17-8)
- 5-Whippany Park (18-10)
- 6-Emerson Boro (25-4)
- 7-New Egypt (14-8)
- 8-Woodstown (19-7)
- 9-Verona (19-9)
- 10-Haddon Township (17-10)
North Jersey Interscholastic Conference
- 1-Weehawken (26-3)
- 2-Emerson (25-4)
- 3-Park Ridge (18-9)
- 4-Lodi Immaculate (19-6)
- 5-Rutherford (18-6)
- 6-Pompton Lakes (20-7)
- 7-Glen Rock (15-10)
- 8-Hawthorne (16-10)
- 9-Ridgefield (14-8)
- 10-Walington (15-13)
Jake Aferiat covers the Big North, GMC, HCIAL, NJAC, NJIC, SEC, Skyland and UCC. He can be reached at jaferiat@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jake_Aferiat.
