Sports Roundup: Area Teams Start State Playoffs This Week

Most of the Montclair and Montclair Kimberley teams will be starting the state playoffs this week.

Girls lacrosse and boys tennis are already underway while sports like baseball, softball, boys lacrosse and boys volleyball start this week.

The highest seeds for the state playoffs turn out to be in boys lacrosse.

Montclair Kimberley, fresh off winning the Prep Tournament title, is the second seed in Non-Public B and will host the winner of seventh-seeded Moorestown Friends-10th-seeded Gloucester Catholic on Thursday in Montclair.

Montclair is the fifth seed and will host 12th-seeded Howell in the second round today in Group 4 North section. A Mounties win would send them to the semi-finals on Thursday.

Montclair softball will be going on the road in the first round of the Group 4 North 1 state playoffs today. The Lady Mounties are the ninth seed and travel to eighth-seeded Clifton.

Montclair Kimberley softball garnered an eighth seed in the Non-Public North B and travel to Immaculate Conception in Lodi, the top seed, on May 31.

In baseball Montclair Kimberley received a seventh seed and will host a first round game against 10th-seeded Hudson Catholic on Friday.

The Montclair boys baseball will look to show the strength of the Super Essex Conference when they travel to seventh-seeded Memorial in Hudson County on Monday in the first round of Group 4 North 1.

Montclair volleyball is the 12th seed in North 1 state section and travels to fifth-seeded Vernon today.

Baseball

Montclair (14-9) is hot heading into the state playoffs this week as they were able to get two games in between the raindrops. The Mounties defeated West Orange, 6-4, at home on Thursday and then took care of Glen Ridge, 8-1, on the road on Saturday.

Brett Cooper had the big hit a two-run homer that supported the trio of Montclair pitchers, Keith Harrison, Max Barnes and Jared Berman who allowed only five Ridgers hits on Saturday that was Senior Day in Glen Ridge.

And Berman came up big with his bat against West Orange with a grand-slam home run in the bottom of the sixth inning that helped the Mounties come back from a 4-2 deficit against the Mountaineers. Sam Ackerman and Elliot Gertner chipped in a pair of hits against West Orange.

Montclair Kimberley (12-11-1) got a big win on Saturday, 2-0, over Caldwell before the state playoffs led by pitcher Mike Sasso who fired a three hitter and struck out seven batters.

The Cougars scored a run in the first and third innings to defeat the Chiefs in Montclair. As it turned out a John Beck RBI single that scored Max Herrmann in the opening inning was all Sasso and MKA needed.

Softball

Like the baseball team the Lady Mounties were also hot when they could play because of the weather. Montclair prepped for the state playoffs with a 15-2 victory at Belleville on Friday and nipped West Esssex, 2-1, on Thursday.

The big win was against West Essex, a finalist in the ECT last season and won the Group 2 North 2 section last season.

Lady Mounties pitcher Tori Sneden fired a four-hitter while striking out seven. She also had an RBI at the plate while Montclair's Giuliana Freda added a pair of hits and an RBI. Deja Davis had a pair of runs scored. The Lady Mounties led 2-0 and held on in the end.

Montclair continued its drive to win the second Super Essex Conference Liberty Division title with a 20-hit offense against Belleville on the road.

Sneeden and Sara Haefeli had three hits each to lead the way. Montclair was ahead 4-0 in the second inning and never looked back.

Girls lacrosse

Montclair could not pull off the upset in the second half in the first round at South Brunswick and dropped an 8-5 decision on Tuesday in the Group 4 North.

The 15th-seeded Lady Mounties gave second-seeded South Brunswick a scare and were tied at four at halftime, but let down in the second half.

Montclair (6-14) had five different players who scored, but could not get the multiple-goal scorer. Clare Keating had a goal and an assist for the Lady Mounties. Charlotte von Hoffman, Marissa Taddie, Delaney Gilson and Sarah Siwinski scored a goal each.

Montclair goalie Lucy Ferguson helped the Mounties stay in the game with 16 saves.

Montclair Kimberley's (9-10) drive in the state playoffs was short lived as the Lady Cougars lost 14-0 to one of the best teams in the state, Oak Knoll in the first round of the Group 1 state playoffs on May 16.

MKA struggled from the start as Oak Knoll was ahead 11-0 at halftime.

Boys tennis

Montclair's (10-9-1) drive to a state sectional title came up short in Hackensack as the fifth-seeded Mounties dropped 3-2 to fourth-seeded Bergen Tech on Tuesday on Group 4 North 1 state sectional.

Sophomore Jackson Claudio won the lone three-set match, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 to Bergen Tech's Nicholas Rosasco in first singles, but the Mounties fell short on the day.

The only other Montclair victory was by Liam Allen and Ryan Kautz with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Tech's Sammy Choi and Juni Kim in the second doubles.

Boys lacrosse

Montclair Kimberley (15-1) dominated Rutgers Prep, 13-3, on Tuesday in the state Prep B tournament title game.

The top-seeded Cougars were led by Kyle Morris and Jack Strain who had three goals each. Strain also added three assists for MKA, who lost to Rutgers Prep in the finals last year. Craig Scheitzer was strong in goal with six saves for the Cougars.

Montclair (10-9) got ready for the state tournament with two strong performances. The Mounties lost 8-7 on the road in overtime at a strong Chatham team on Tuesday and then defeated Bergen Catholic, 9-3, on Thursday.

The Mounties saw a 7-3 lead heading into the fourth quarter versusu Chatham fall apart as the Cougars scored four times to send the game into overtime when Sam Carson scored the game-winner for Chatham.

Behind a pair of goals each from Kevin McKenna and Drew Nesmith, Montclair had the win in its grasp but Chatham scored with a couple of seconds on the clock to send it into overtime.
   
Boys volleyball

Montclair (10-10) had a good test before the start of the state playoffs as they fell to a quality team in Hunterdon Central, 25-18, 29-27.

For the Mounties Max Hersh was the offensive force that took the second game into overtime with seven kills and four digs. Alex Colton added three kills for Montclair on Friday.

In the 25-15, 25-17 victory over North Bergen at home, Montclair received balanced scoring attack with Stefan Sanders scoring eight kills while Hersh and Jake Stern added seven kills each. Spencer Rudolph led the Mounties with 28 assists.