The regular season is down to just a handful of games, while county tournaments have either crowned a champ or are about to. And, of course, we had another round of fantastic individual performances around Central Jersey.
Here are the nominations for this week’s Central Jersey Softball Player of the Week award. All stats through Saturday, May 11.
Voting ends Friday at noon. Nominees selected by Simeon Pincus and Josh Rosenfeld. Voting winner will be featured as the Player of the Week.
VALENTINA BARRIOS
Manville
Senior
Catcher/shortstop
The Mustangs endured an 0-12 start to the season, despite their four-year starting captain continuing to hit, and things finally came together for the club last week as it reeled off three straight wins with Barrios having a big hand in the success. The senior, who enters this week at 99 career hits, went 7-for-14 last week with six runs and three RBIs, adding a walk and a hit by pitch in wins over South Amboy, Warren Tech and Dunellen. Barrios is hitting .455 for the season with a double, triple, 11 runs and 12 RBIs.
OLIVIA DISALVO
Scotch Plains-Fanwood
Junior
Pitcher/infield
The Raiders shook off a three-game losing streak by reeling off four victories last week, with three coming in extra innings. DiSalvo picked up wins in three of the outings, including Saturday’s nine-inning come-from-behind victory over Summit in the Union County Tournament. She earned the win in relief in an eight-inning topping of Brearley, went the distance in a nine-inning stunner over Governor Livingston, and went nine innings in Saturday’s UCT win. She went 3-0 for the week, allowing three earned runs in 20 innings, on 19 hits and just two walks, fanning 27. She also chipped in four hits last week, including a home run, three runs and four RBIs. She’s 7-1 for the season with a 1.62 ERA, with just 16 walks and 59 hits allowed in 69 1/3 innings, while striking out 105. She’s also hitting .361 with a double, two homers and 21 RBIs.
MICHELLE EDRALIN
Highland Park
Senior
Pitcher
Highland Park has won three in a row, including decisions last week over larger, Group 4 programs in Edison and Piscataway. While Edralin earned the victory in all three contests, it was her exhortations at the plate that earns her the nomination. She went 6-for-11 over the three victories, scoring four runs and driving in five. For the season, she’s batting .653 and slugging .837 with nine doubles, 17 RBI and 32 runs scored. She’s also delivered 11 wins in the circle for the 13-3 Owls.
JULIA OPONG-MARFO
Rutgers Prep
Junior
Center field
Both the Argonauts on their center fielder broke out of a mini-slump in a big way last week, as Rutgers Prep followed up a 1-7 skid with two wins over public-school programs last week, with Opong-Marfo right in the middle of the outburst. The senior went 6-for-9 in the victories over Montgomery and Carteret, adding a home run, three runs scored and three RBIs. She’s hitting .342 for the season with two longballs, 11 runs and six RBIs.
MOLLY MCDONALD
Linden
Senior
Pitcher
McDonald has been dominant in the circle and at the plate over the Tigers’ last four victories. She fanned 54 batters in 24 innings in those triumphs, striking out 20 in a seven-inning decision over McNair. Over that span, she also went 11-for-18 and knocked in six runs. She’s batting .435 and slugging .500 for the season, with a 145 to 39 strikeout to walk ratio over 72 innings.
HOLLY MEDINA
Timothy Christian
Junior
Infielder
Timothy Christian went 2-0 last week and have won three of its last four after an 0-9 start. Medina went 5-for-7 last week with three doubles, scoring twice and driving in three runs in each. She’s 9-for-16 with 10 RBI over the last four games, and is batting .556 for the season and slugging .778 with 14 RBI in 13 games.
MARIALYS RICOURT
J.F. Kennedy
Senior
Catcher
The Mustangs won both of their contests last week and have won three of their last four with Ricourt contributing three hits in each of those victories. She went 6-for-7 in last week’s triumphs with four RBI and, in the lone recent setback, when J.F. Kennedy rallied from six runs down to tie Spotswood in the seventh inning, she scored twice and had a hand in the tying rally. For the session, she’s batting .407, slugging .630 and has driven in 17 runs.
MYIAH SUTTON
Colonia
Senior
Third Base
Colonia has struggled recently, losing four of its last six, despite the efforts of its senior third baseman. The Patriots split their two outings last week and Sutton went 4-for-6 with a home run, two triples and six runs driven in. For the season she’s batting .500 and slugging .847 with 10 doubles, three triples, three home runs and 37 RBI. She has accumulated 136 hits in her career and possesses one of the strongest arms of any infielder in the GMC.
MARLI SZEIRER
Immaculata
Senior
First base
The Spartans’ inspired run to the Somerset County Tournament championship was certainly about a lot more than one player, but the mind-blowing power tear the senior has been on certainly had a lot to do with it. After sitting out the season’s first three weeks after transferring in, Szeirer joined the lineup April 23, and five games later, she began assaulting the other side of outfield fences. After blasting two homers in Saturday night’s 3-1 SCT finals win over Watchung Hills, the 6-foot-2 Branchburg native has now homered seven times in six games, which included a pair of two-homer performances, as well as a grand slam in the semifinals. She’s 12-for-32 overall with two doubles, seven homers, 12 runs and 17 RBIs for the season.
EMILY TITSWORTH
Gill St. Bernard’s
Junior
Pitcher
The Knights’ three-year ace has had an impact in the circle and at the plate, and that was even more true last week as she had a hand in Gill St. Bernard’s 3-0 week, which included wins as the No. 4 seed over top-seeded Morristown-Beard in the Prep B semifinals and over No. 2 Montclair Kimberly in Thursday’s final. Titsworth picked up the win in all three outings, including a two-hit shutout against Mo-Beard. She allowed just five earned runs in 21 innings last week, surrendering 14 hits, six walks and striking out 17, while turning in a 2-for-2 day in the Prep B championship game with a triple and two RBIs.
VOTE NOW!! POLL CLOSES NOON FRIDAY!!
Staff writer Simeon Pincus has been covering NJ sports since 1997, and has been on the softball beat since 1999. He can be reached atCourierSoftball@aol.com. Follow him on Twitter/X @SimeonPincus
Follow GMC softball writer Josh Rosenfeld on Twitter/X @JoshPRosenfeld
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