Morris Knolls softball repeat as Morris County champs for first time

ROXBURY — The senior class for Morris Knolls softball has seemingly done it all for the program. The group os seniors have won three sectional titles together, reached two group finals and won the Morris County tournament last season. Now, the group has done something that no other Morris Knolls class has done.

The Golden Eagles survived a back and forth affair with Morris Catholic to repeat as Morris County tournament champions in a 10-9 final at Landing Park in Roxbury on May 8. It's the first time in program history that Morris Knolls has won consecutive county titles.

"County tournaments are special," head coach Keith Heinemann said. "They're more intimate than state tournaments. You're playing your neighbors. Those are some of the best teams we will see all season long and it gives us the confidence with states coming up."

Freshman Kendall Rady's sacrifice fly with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the seventh inning scored Julia Fox to give Morris Knolls a tournament title for the eighth time.

"I just knew I had to come in big and strong and couldn't doubt myself in this moment," Rady said. "I just really wanted to do it for the seniors. They deserve this and we had this opportunity."

Morris Knolls took control early with runs in each of the first three innings. Fox and Kaylee Rolph each drove in a pair of runs in the first inning with Rolph lacing a two-run triple to give the Golden Eagles a 4-0 advantage. Fox drove in a third run on her next at-bat to take a 5-0 lead through two innings.

"It has been a huge rush of adrenaline," Fox said. "Everything that we have done for the last 24 hours and, honestly, this entire season has led to this moment."

Morris Catholic had the first of multiple punches back in the top of the third, loading the bases on an error, a hit batter and a single. Gia Bonsignore cracked a base hit that scored two runs and put the Crusaders on the board. Following a walk to load the bases with nobody out, Morris Knolls made a pitching change to Jessica Seprish. Seprish struck out three straight batters to leave the bases loaded and hold a 5-2 lead after two and a half innings.

Anna Chomisky led off the bottom of the third with a triple and scored on an RBI single by Rady. That would knock Sofia Reisinger out of the circle. The Morris Catholic ace, who pitched 10 solid innings in the tournament semifinal less than 24 hours earlier, tossed her last pitch of the night without recording an out in the third inning.

Ava Florio entered the circle for Morris Catholic. Much like many of the pitchers from both dugouts, finding the strike zone was a difficult task. Florio walked a pair, including Taylor Heinemann with the bases loaded, to give Morris Knolls a 7-2 lead after three innings.