Sports Roundup: Area Teams Battle County Teams

Montclair passed one of its first early tests with a 5-4 victory over Livingston at home on April 11. The Mounties defeated a Lancers team that made it to the Group 4 North 1 state finals last season. The victory gave Montclair a 4-2 record in the early going of the 2011 season.

Montclair found itself down 4-3 in the bottom of the eighth inning, when Sam Ackerman smashed a two-run walk-off homer for the one-run victory in a Super Essex Conference battle.

It was the second comeback of the game for the Mounties as they scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning against Lancers pitching to send the game into extra innings. The game was tied courtesy of Brett Cooper with a two-RBI triple to tie the game at three.

Montclair Softball

Montclair won its second game in a row on Monday with a 4-3 victory over Millburn in an SEC game at home. Behind Mounties junior hurler Tori Sneden and the hitting of Deja Davis and Fabiana Citro, Montclair took a 4-0 lead in the fourth inning. And then Sneden held on and held off the Millers comeback while scattering five hits, striking out five and walking only two in the end. The victory evened the Montclair record at 2-2.

Mounties had defeated Newark Academy, 13-6, on April 8 in another SEC game.

Against Millburn, Davis had a pair of hits and an RBI while Citro also had a pair of hits and scored a run to lead the Mounties offense.

In the victory over the Lady Minutemen, Davis again had a big day, this time going 3-for-4 along with two runs scored. Sara Haefeli collected three runs scored by getting on base four times. Skutch Charlotte, Sneden, and Laura Haefeli also had a pair of runs.

Montclair Boys Lacrosse

Montclair is having a tough start at 0-4, but the Mounties have arguably faced one of the toughest schedules in the state. In the first four games Montclair has faced teams that had a cumulative record of 14-2 against Mahwah, Ridgewood, Glen Ridge, and Mountain Lakes.

Montclair hosted one of the top teams in Mountain Lakes on Tuesday and dropped a 15-5 decision. The Mounties were down 7-3 at halftime and the Herd added four more goals in the third quarter. Montclair was down 11-3 heading into the fourth quarter.

Despite the loss to Mountain Lakes, Drew Nesmith scored three goals to give him 11 goals on the season.

Montclair Girls Lacrosse

Like the boys lacrosse team, the Lady Mounties have also struggled to start the season to the tune of 1-6.

While the girls lacrosse team has not faced a power-packed schedule like the boys, they still have faced some very good teams like undefeated Vernon and some of the top teams in state in West Essex, Glen Ridge, and IHA.

Montclair finally won its first game of the season and that came on Monday with a 14-12 victory over Mt. St. Dominic at home.

Charlotte Von Hoffman had a big game with seven goals while Jamie Putman added two and Delaney Gilson and Miranda Gavrila added a goal each. Lady Mounties goalie Lucy Ferguson made 19 saves to preserve the win.

Montclair Volleyball

After losing its first two games of the season, Montclair defeated North 13th Street Tech, 2-0, on Monday and Golda Och, 2-1 on Tuesday. Against North 13th, the Mounties won 25-17, 25-17. Sam Leder had five aces along with four kills and four digs to lead Montclair.

In the three-game win over Golda Och, the Mounties found themselves evened at one in losing 25-23 after winning the first game, 25-17.

Montclair took the match with a 25-20 victory. The offense was spread around throughout the team with four Mounties scoring five or more kills. Max Hersh notched eight kills while Brad Lagrua, Javier Teitelbaum and Jake Stern adding five kills.

Montclair Kimberley Boys Lacrosse

MKA avenged a loss to Morristown-Beard in the state playoffs last season with a 15-9 victory on Monday at home against Beard.

The Cougars were upset by Morristown-Beard, 11-7, in the Group B Non-Public state sectional game in the semi-finals last season.

This time though MKA made sure that they would get the best of Morristown-Beard with a 7-1 lead after the first quarter. Jack Strain had eight goals to lead the way for the Cougars. Overall, he has 17 goals in the first five games along with a pair of assists. The win gave MKA a 5-0 record to start the season.

Montclair Kimberley Girls Lacrosse

Behind a big game from Skylar Zlotnick, Montclair Kimberley took care of Pequannock, 12-7, on the road to raise their record to over .500, 3-2.

The senior who signed a letter of intent to attend Bryant University, scored seven goals to lead the Cougars. Kerry Fusco added three goals for Montclair Kimberley in the victory. The Cougars have also defeated Newark Academy, 16-10, on April 5 and Verona, 15-14 on April 1.

Montclair Kimberley Baseball

It might be early, but the Cougars are showing that they are going to put any memory of a 6-19 record in 2010 season behind them.

Montclair Kimberley defeated Gill St. Bernard's, 11-3, on April 9 in an independent game in Flemington. The win gave the Cougars a 2-0 record. Max Herrmann led the way with a home run and three RBI with his bat. Herrmann also did it with his arm as he pitched five innings to collect the victory. He also allowed Gill St. Bernard's only two hits.

In addition to Herrmann's offense, Travers Nammack added three RBI.

Montclair Kimberley Softball

It's the perfect storm for MKA as they have a young, inexperienced roster and they are still in the top division, the American, in the SEC.

The Lady Cougars have lost their first three games including falling 17-1 to Bloomfield at home in five innings. The Bengals scored 10 runs in the first inning.

MKA only had five hits for the game with Ashley Bishop going 1-for-3 and the lone RBI that came in the third inning.