NEWARK – Not even a heavy downpour could cool off the Morris Knolls softball team.
The Golden Eagles put together a relentless attack and produced plenty of thunder during a 14-0 whitewashing of Kingsway, capturing their first state Group 4 title in 16 years on Friday night at Ivy Hill Park.
Morris Knolls, which suffered state final losses in 2023 and 2024, finished at 29-3 and scored a whopping 284 runs (8.9 runs per game) over the course of the spring.
“Knowing we’ve been here two times and finally being able to put it all together in the end, it’s just crazy, what a way to finish our senior year,” Morris Knolls senior Anna Chominsky said.
In the final high school softball game in the Garden State for 2026, Morris Knolls provided plenty of fireworks, lighting up the scoreboard with eight runs in the first two innings before a storm rolled through the area, halting play for 30 minutes.
The Golden Knights produced 12 hits, including five for extra bases. Senior Julia Fox had three hits and four RBIs, falling a triple shy of the cycle. Fox’s two-run blast highlighted a six-run frame in the second.
Chominsky delivered a two-run double in the first and a run-scoring single in the second, giving her 27 RBIs for her senior season. Senior Sofia Cruz roped a bases-clearing triple in the second inning and added a RBI single in the fifth, finishing her scholastic career with 162 knocks.
After the delay, the Golden Eagles pushed across a run in the third before five more in the fifth en route to the mercy-rule victory.
In six postseason games, Morris Knolls registered 57 runs on 62 hits.
“We’re good offensively, one through nine (in the lineup), we’re pretty relentless up there and there’s no real easy outs,” Morris Knolls head coach Keith Heinemann said. “We grind on pitchers and defenses.”
Kingsway spend most of the evening chasing down balls ignited by hard contact and finding open spaces across the diamond.
“I don’t think we’ve ever faced a lineup like that,” Kingsway senior Karsen Taylor said. “They were really smashing the ball.”
Fox, a Stony Brook commit, finished her senior season with a .551 batting average, to go along with 59 hits and a whopping 69 RBIs. Her career totals were even more eye-popping with 176 hits (22 were homers), 164 RBIs and 67 stolen bases.
“Julia is one of the best players to ever walk through Morris Knolls,” Heinemann said. “She can do it all and the best part about Julia is she’s so unselfish. I think she could be the hitter of the year (in the state). She does it all. The only thing she hasn’t done for us is (play catcher).
Rough finish to great season for Kingsway
A new era in Kingsway started this season with first-year head coach Diane Nelson and plenty of fresh faces in the lineup, but the Dragons managed to keep the success going.
Kingsway finished the season with a 21-6 record, which included a Tri-County Conference Royal Division title and its third South Jersey Group 4 title in the last four years.
“It was an amazing run, I’m just so happy for the kids,” Nelson said. “They put it out there every game and left their mark on the field.”
Kingsway’s seniors led by Taylor, Reese Whitzell, Ava Snyder, Thelma Reed, Anna Jacobs and Paige Oatman were a special group that made a huge impact on the younger players on the squad, according to Nelson.
“They are relentless, they have that passion for the game to go along with a great work ethic and leadership,” the head coach said.
While there were plenty of tears on the Kingsway side, the Dragons knew the journey to Ivy Hill Park was a heck of a ride.
“The last three weeks have been the greatest times of my life,” said Taylor, who will be attending Salisbury University in the fall and plans to study nursing.
“We’re a super scrappy team. I think the chemistry and mentorship that we had was really important to this season.
“It was hard looking at that scoreboard out there, but we kept fighting. That’s what we do.”
Kingsway managed just four singles against the Morris Knolls tandem of Kayla Doyle and Jessica Seprish.
Tom McGurk is a regional sports editor for the Courier-Post, The Daily Journal and Burlington County Times, covering South Jersey sports for over 35 years. If you have a sports story that needs to be told, contact him by email at tmcgurk@usatodayco.com. Follow him on Twitter at @McGurkSports. Help support local journalism with a digital subscription.
This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Morris Knolls softball wins state Group 4 title
