Softball team aims to benefit from momentum
VERNON. The Vikings finished last spring with three straight victories after an impressive eight-game winning streak.
Vernon /
| 25 Mar 2023 | 07:42
Seniors playing on the softball team are, from left, Jess Lefort, Leigh Rose Hart, Audry Baldwin and Angelina Salamone. (Photo provided)
After a loss in the second round of the 2022 Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex Tournament, the Vernon Township High School softball team went on an impressive eight-game winning streak.
The Vikings finished last spring with three straight victories.
Now the team is looking to build off that momentum as they begin the regular season with a road contest at Jefferson on Tuesday, April 4.
On April 11, the Vikings are scheduled to host Lenape Valley.
“The goal is to always compete, to get to the next level of play may it be the conference or (NJSIAA) state playoffs,’’ head coach Kerry Ludeking said. “We want to keep a winning tradition strong.’’
Among the returning varsity-tested student athletes are seniors Jess Lefort (outfield), Leigh Rose Hart (pitcher and infield) and Audey Baldwin (infield) and junior MaryAnna Cova-Gomez (outfield).
Newcomers include senior Andelina Salamone (catcher); sophomores Abby Mundhenk (infield) and Kaylie Orlando (infield); and freshmen Carly Amorosi (outfield), Elizabeth Peek (infield) and Miranda Ebbighausen (pitcher and infield).
“The seniors, all of them, have really taken this young group under their wings,’’ the coach said. “They want to see the tradition of Vernon softball to keep rising up as we have been doing in the last eight years.’’
Vernon tallied an overall record of 16-7 and the team was 8-2 as champions of the Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Freedom Division last spring. It advanced to the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) North 1 Group 2 sectional tournament before being defeated by Pequannock last season.
The Vikings compete in the NJAC Freedom Division along with Lenape Valley, Kittatinny, High Point, Vernon and North Warren.
“I would love to call us a contender or even a spoiler, (but) the conference is tough,’’ Ludeking said. “We are young, and Jefferson and North Warren were young. Now they are very strong teams.
“But you can include High Point, Lenape Valley and Kittatinny as major contenders. So again this conference is tough and up for grabs.’’
The seniors, all of them, have really taken this young group under their wings. They want to see the tradition of Vernon softball to keep rising up as we have been doing in the last eight years.’’ - Kerry Ludeking, head softball coach, Vernon Township High School