St. John Vianney avenges loss, beats Donovan Catholic for Shore Conference Tournament softball crown

On Friday night, St. John Vianney suffered a bitter extra-innings loss to Donovan Catholic in the South Jersey Non-Public A Final and a day later the Griffins would go on to win their first-ever NJSIAA title.

While it won’t make up for that heartache, the Lancers got some measure of revenge Monday night when they rallied for two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to beat Donovan Catholic, 4-3, in the Shore Conference Tournament championship game at Count Basie Park in Red Bank.

Alexis Agrapides tied the game with her fourth hit of the night and then scored what turned out to be the game-winner on a groundout by Charley Baker. As she has so many times, junior ace Julia Parker then closed the door on the Griffins in the top of the seventh as Vianney finished a 27-1 season with the SCT crown.

While the loss was disappointing for the defending champion Griffins, they will now turn their attention to the Tournament of Champions where they are the top seed in the field of six and have an opening round bye. The Griffins will face the winner of the Ramsey vs. Lodi Immaculate game in the semifinals on Wednesday at Ivy Hill Park on the campus of Seton Hall. Should they win that game then it’s on to the TOC Final on Friday night.

Donovan Catholic captured its first Non-Public A state title with an 11-1 victory over Mount St. Dominic on Saturday night, less than 24 hours after the big win over St. John Vianney.

Kevin Williams is the Director of the Shore Sports Network and can be reached at kevin.williams@townsquaremedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @shoresportsman. Like Shore Sports Network on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube channel for all the latest video highlights.