By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
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VINELAND — Last spring, the Egg Harbor Township High softball team ended Vineland’s season with a 9-4 victory in the South Jersey Group 4 quarterfinals. The year before, Vineland ousted EHT in the sectional championship game — after the Eagles had knocked the Fighting Clan out of the Cape-Atlantic League Tournament in the semifinal round.
In 2023 it was more of the same, as Vineland lost twice to EHT, including in the league semis. Back in 2019, Vineland tackled EHT in the opening round of the state playoffs.
You get the idea. These teams are no strangers when it comes to postseason softball.
On Thursday, they were back at it again, this time at Fiocchi Field as Vineland’s home field at the high school was soggy after three days of rain. It was a classic back-and-forth matchup, with Vineland going down 2-0 early before storming back for a 10-6 victory that puts the third-seeded Fighting Clan into the sectional semifinals, where they’ll travel to No. 2 Cherokee on Tuesday. The other semifinal features top-seeded Kingsway hosting either No. 4 Southern Regional or No. 5 Rancocas Valley, who duke it out on Friday afternoon.
“We ended their season two years ago and they ended our season last year, so we were both coming for each other,” said Vineland starting pitcher Kashvi Patel. “It’s always a good game when we play against them.”
Fighting Clan rookie head coach Korie Hague — a former star catcher who helped lead Vineland to a state championship game appearance before enjoying a great career at Rowan University — is now 2-0 in her state playoff career after Vineland topped Washington Township, 12-5, in the opening round before today’s win over EHT.
“This is so different. It’s a different perspective on the game, but it’s fun to see these girls succeed and I have the same passion as a coach that I had as a player,” Hague said. “We went down against Washington Township, too, but these girls have so much heart. They have what it takes to be here, they’ll battle back every time and they’ll go all seven innings.”
Vineland (17-7-1, 8-4 Cape-Atlantic League American) exploded for six runs in the bottom of the second, highlighted by junior catcher Averie Gomez’s two-run single that gave the Clan a 5-2 lead. That hit was part of a stellar day for Gomez, who went 3-for-4 with five RBIs.
“She’s been a huge asset for us this whole season,” Hague said. “Behind the plate she’s a leader, she commands the whole game for us. She had a great day. She’s been driving the ball the last couple of games and it hasn’t fallen in for her, but it finally fell her way today.”
“She had some great hits. I was on base and she did not leave me out there. Every time she brought me in,” Patel said. “Anytime there are runners in scoring position it seems like Averie always does the job. She’s always looking to go to the right side or up the middle, and we saw that today — she hit three balls up the middle. She just does her job.”
Gomez, who has a career-high 29 hits this season and has improved her batting average by nearly 100 points in each of her three varsity seasons, also now has 28 RBIs and leads the team in doubles (9) and walks (19).
“Hitting is a very mental aspect of the game. At the end of the day, I just want to enjoy every single moment and know that whatever happens, my teammates have my back and I have to do it for my team,” Gomez said. “I take the game pitch-by-pitch, play-by-play and enjoy the little moments and hope for the best. Overall, it’s a team effort. I wouldn’t say the ball was looking like a beach ball, but this is our third time playing them and you kind of have an idea of what she’s throwing. It’s about having the right approach and finishing.”
Egg Harbor (11-14, 3-9 CAL American) stormed back, however, getting to Patel for four runs in the top of the third to tie the game, 6-6. The big blow was a three-run home run by Brianna Pope. Janiah Hernandez came on in the fourth, though, and pitched four innings of scoreless relief with eight strikeouts to get the win.
“We always warm up two pitchers and we had the mindset that we were going to use both of them,” Hague explained. “Janiah comes in great in relief. Her change-up is outstanding. It’s been untouchable. Those two work well together — Kashvi sets it up and Janiah comes in closes it out.”
“We played them twice this year and right from the start I knew it was going to be a tough game. They’ve seen me twice already. I was trying my best to locate. Obviously in the third inning my pitches started getting a little fat, but my teammate, Janiah, she really picked me up. She worked her spots, and our bats really helped a lot,” Patel said. “Throughout the season we’ve gained a lot more confidence. If you look at us from the first game to now, we’ve definitely improved a lot as a team, and our confidence has grown together. Our coach has done a great job boosting our confidence. Every game, every practice she’s telling us how much she believes in us and how much potential she has. Her telling us that has really helped us.”
Gomez gave Vineland the lead for good with a two-run single in the bottom of the fourth, and the Fighting Clan tacked a run in the fifth on another RBI by Gomez and another tally in the bottom of the sixth on a solo home run by sophomore Leah Coia.
“Our mindset from the beginning has been to get one percent better every day, and if they keep doing that I can see us going far. We have to control the controllables, minimize our errors and use our bats to talk,” Hague said.
“Our coach told us the other day that an underdog is a dawg. That kind of stuck with us,” Gomez said. “We were a little down at the beginning of the season, but anyone can win on any given day. We want to play with confidence and enjoy the moment. Our seniors never know when it’s going to be their last time out here with us.”
WHAT’S NEXT: No. 3 Vineland travels to No. 2 Cherokee on Tuesday for the South Jersey Group 4 semifinals, time TBD. Egg Harbor Township’s season is complete.
