The 2025 varsity softball season gets going Tuesday in New Jersey, and there are plenty of Central Jersey teams poised for big years. Here are some preseason notes, our preseason All-Area teams, predictions and looks ahead for the new campaign.
An unwelcomed experiment
The new Skyland Conference softball scheduling format for divisional games has not been met with enthusiastic approval among coaches, as the league tries something new.
In the past, teams would play divisional opponents in two cycles, playing each team once before repeating the schedule at the opposing home field. This season, teams are slated to face divisional foes twice in three days – generally Tuesday and Thursday – and, for the most part, coaches aren’t happy about it.
The point of the rule, really, is for baseball, something other leagues have used, including the Greater Middlesex Conference. Since baseball pitchers are on pitch counts and need rest between appearances, the scheduling format ensures divisional opponents don’t see a team’s ace in both meetings, which helps negate the advantage some clubs have with dominant starters at the head of their rotation getting to pitch every big game.
But, instead of just putting the rule in for the Skyland Conference’s baseball teams, the majority of athletics directors felt it was a good idea to also put the rule in place for softball, perhaps without considering how it would impact the sport, and certainly without asking for coaches to weight in on the move.
Fact is, baseball and softball are different. Baseball pitchers need time to recover, while softball pitchers can go every day and some have no limit on their ability to throw a lot of pitches. So, as is the case with a lot of softball teams, clubs that only have one viable varsity pitcher are forced to throw that hurler against a division opponent in consecutive games. And it wasn’t that long ago when it was the norm to only have one starting varsity pitcher.
“This schedule is a complete disregard for the differences in our sport,” longtime Bernards coach Leslie O’Conner said. “While it makes sense for baseball, it creates a disadvantage for softball. We typically have one ace. Now, a lineup will see our pitcher six or more times in the span of a week.”
But even coaches who have multiple pitching options aren’t a fan of the change. Watchung Hills features junior Riley Bobrowski as its ace, the reigning Softball Player of the Year, who pitched the Warriors to a state championship last season. They also have senior Mia Simon, who is a dominant pitcher in her own right.
But Bobrowski’s inning were limited down the stretch and in the state tournament last year, and she’s certainly not going to pitch every inning this year, especially early, which means Simon is going to face a lot of good teams. And a team at Watchung Hills’ level also plays big non-conference games against elite opponents, potentially giving them 3-4 important outings in a week – often three days in a row -- if they have to ...
