Denville has a state champion to celebrate. The Morris Knolls High School softball team, the regional high school that Denville Township students attend, capped a dominant season by routing Kingsway 14-0 to win the NJSIAA Group 4 state title on Friday, June 12, 2026, at Ivy Hill Park in Newark. It is the program’s first state crown in 16 years.
The Golden Eagles finished 29-3 and scored 284 runs on the season, nearly nine per game. The title game was never close. Morris Knolls put up eight runs over the first two innings, paused for a 30-minute rain delay, then closed it out with five more runs in the fifth for a mercy-rule finish.
Senior Julia Fox, a Stony Brook commit, led the way with three hits and four RBIs, including a two-run home run. She finished her senior year batting .551 with 69 RBIs and ended her career with 176 hits and 164 RBIs. Anna Chominsky drove in three runs over the first two innings, and Sofia Cruz added a bases-clearing triple. Pitchers Kayla Doyle and Jessica Seprish held Kingsway to four singles.
The win avenged back-to-back state final losses in 2023 and 2024. “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,” Chominsky said.
Head coach Keith Heinemann praised a deep lineup. “We’re pretty relentless up there and there’s no real easy outs,” he said. “We grind on pitchers and defenses.”
