There’s a reason the Egg Harbor Township softball team has won 30 of its last 31 games. It’s because the Eagles have players such as center fielder Emily MacNeil.
The Bunting Family Pharmacy Athlete of the Week can do it all on a softball field, from chasing down line drives in the gap to getting on base as a leadoff hitter to driving in runs.
The Eagles won their first seven games — a year after going 24-1 and advancing to the state Group 4 championship game — and are averaging nine runs per game, due in large part to MacNeil’s ability to create offense at the top of the lineup.
In a recent 9-0 win over Washington Township, one of the top teams in South Jersey, MacNeil finished with three hits, including a 3-run triple, scored two runs and had a pair of stolen bases. In EHT’s previous game, a 10-3 win over Clearview, MacNeil tripled and scored a pair of runs, and in a 4-3 win over a tough Millville squad earlier this month she went 1-for-4 with a double.
With MacNeil at the top of the lineup, the Eagles have scored 10 runs in five of their first seven games, and only Millville was able to hold EHT to less than nine runs.
MacNeil said the win over Washington Township was a big confidence booster for the Eagles, who have several new players starting at the varsity level after graduating some key players from last year’s South Jersey Group 4 championship team.
“We definitely wanted to see where we were at. We weren’t intimidated by them, by any means. We felt pretty confident in ourselves,” MacNeil said. “We rely on each other when we’re in the dugout and on the field. We have a big roster this year and we use it. Coach Dunlap is able to switch girls in and out of the lineup whenever she needs to. We’re pretty solid.”
With MacNeil leading a high-powered offense, the Eagles have moved all the way up to No. 5 in the nj.com statewide rankings.

— Dave O’Sullivan, Staff Writer