Csontos, McDougall Lead St. John Vianney Past Donovan Catholic, Into State Final

TOMS RIVER — Two of the Shore Conference’s most storied softball programs met for the second consecutive season in the South Jersey Non-Public A final, with St. John Vianney defeating Donovan Catholic, 11-1, to advance to next Wednesday’s Non-Public A state championship game against Mount St. Dominic at Ivy Hill Park.

After building a 3-1 lead through four innings, St. John Vianney erupted for eight runs over the final three innings to put the game out of reach. Sophomore Lexie Csontos and senior Madison McDougall accounted for eight of the Lancers’ 11 runs, with Csontos driving in five and McDougall launching a three-run home run.

“We came out wanting this game,” McDougall said. “Donovan is a great team, and we have a fun time when we get to play them. Overall, they are an amazing team, and I am just very happy that we did it. We put the bats on the balls and got the job done in the field.”

Csontos delivered a career-high five RBI’s on one of the biggest stages of the season. She drove in the first five runs of the game for the Lancers, including two in the top of the fifth inning after Donovan Catholic scored its lone run in the bottom of the fourth.

“The first half of the season, she [Csontos] was hitting the ball immaculately, and then she got into a little bit of a slump,” St. John Vianney head coach Kim Lombardi-McDougall said. “I took her out of the lineup for a little bit, and she asked me, ‘How am I going to get back in?’ I told her she has to get more consistent again, and she definitely did that over the last three or four games.”

Csontos helped spark the offense in the second inning when she lined a single between first and second base, scoring junior Mia Favato, who recorded the game’s first hit, and sophomore Olivia Lombardi. She followed with a solo home run to left-center field in the fourth inning to extend the lead to 3-0.

“I have been working on my swing and staying in my posture, taking my hands inside the ball,” Csontos said. “I was seeing the pitches really well, and I saw my first at-bat inside, and I needed to just score runs and pull the ball to the right side. In my second at bat, I wanted to stay behind the ball, and I saw a pitch that I could drive.”

McDougall, who has been one of New Jersey’s premier pitchers since arriving at St. John Vianney four years ago, continued to show her impact at the plate as well. After driving a ball to the fence earlier in the game, she blasted a three-run home run to straightaway center field in the sixth inning to make it 8-1. The home run was her fourth in the last three games and her 16th of the season, a new career high.

“She had a slight off year last year, but she was determined,” Lombardi-McDougall said. “If she does something wrong in her first at bat, she is not fighting it and thinking she knows better. She is disciplined now, and she is starting to understand, ‘Okay, Mom, maybe you’re right. Coach, maybe you’re right.’ She is just confident, and she is just doing her job.”

The bottom half of St. John Vianney’s lineup has consistently delivered in key postseason moments. In the Shore Conference Tournament championship game, freshman Olivia Haslacher drove in two runs in a 5-1 victory over Donovan Catholic. With the bottom third of the lineup regularly getting on base, the top of the order has capitalized. The Lancers’ top four hitters have combined to drive in 181 runs this season, with 101 of those runs coming from runners driven home from the bottom of the lineup.

“You talk about the bottom of our lineup,” Lombardi-McDougall said. “Peyton McDougall had two singles and two hit-by-pitches today, so she reached base four times. That makes the RBI’s for the top of the lineup easy. The bottom of our lineup is doing so well, and I don’t even consider them the bottom of the lineup. I look at it as just another number one and another number two.”

While the offensive outburst grabbed the headlines, it overshadowed another dominant performance from McDougall in the circle. She allowed just two hits against one of the Shore Conference’s most dangerous lineups and struck out 12 batters, raising her season total to 302. The only run she surrendered came on a sacrifice fly after two batters were hit by pitches.

After seeing their season end on the same field in the same game a year ago, the Lancers were determined not to let history repeat itself. St. John Vianney led 3-1 after the first inning of last year’s South Jersey Group A final before falling 8-4 to Donovan Catholic.

“Last year we came up short in this game, and we really wanted this game,” Csontos said. “We worked really hard in practice. We worked really hard as a team, and I think we did great to work together and get this title this year. Our teammates keep us motivated, and we can pick each other up very well.”

John Vianney will now face a familiar opponent in Mount St. Dominic on Wednesday at Ivy Park for the Non-Public A championship. The Lancers defeated Mount St. Dominic in both the 2023 and 2024 state finals, finishing each season ranked No. 1 in New Jersey.

It is a fitting opportunity for McDougall, who has the chance to end her career the same way it began four years ago. As a freshman in the 2023 state final against Mount St. Dominic, she struck out nine batters in a 2-0 victory.

“I want to finish out this season on top,” McDougall said. “Gabby [Gonzalez] and I have been here for four years now, and we really love playing together, and we don’t want it to end.”