Freshmen Fuel Freehold Boro in Big Constitution Division Victory Over St. Rose

FREEHOLD — The 2026 softball season has been unpredictable through the first half, with only a select few teams running through their divisions with little difficulty. One division that looks unlikely to be settled until the very last game is the Constitution Division.

Two of the teams that were fighting for a division title faced off today in a slug fest that saw Freehold Boro (8-4, 6-3) beat St. Rose (6-7, 4-5) 13-6. That was the second time the Colonials beat St. Rose this season after ruining the Purple Roses’ initial foray into the Shore Sports Insider Top 10 with a 12-1 victory.

Freehold Boro’s bats were hot early, sending 10 hitters up in the bottom of the 1st inning and scoring five runs. Freshmen Nyla Bartuck and Vanessa Karabin led the attack for the Colonials, both getting three hits and driving in three runs in the game.

“I was waiting to get the pitch I liked,” Bartuck said. “I swung early in the count, and my teammates gave me a lot of confidence. Our line-up is really dangerous. All of our batters as a team can hit the ball, and we are really good at coming together.”

Bartuck had two doubles and scored four times, and Karabin hit a triple in her first two plate appearances, scoring Bartuck both times. Sophomore Maria Nicosia, who finished with two hits, drove in the last two runs in the 1st inning with a single to left field.

The Colonials did not let up in the 2nd inning, scoring three more runs to make it 8-0. Freehold Boro took advantage of two errors by St. Rose with two outs. After Karabin drove Bartuck in with a triple, courtesy runner Cameron Aponte would later score on a pop fly by freshman Jackie Russo that was dropped by the right fielder. Russo then later scored after there was an error by the 3rd baseman on a steal.

“I do feel that we string hits together nicely,” Freehold Boro head coach Ben DiBiase said. “It’s probably why we have been 75-25 defense to offense in practice because we have to cut down on some of the errors. A big game like that, you have to play cleaner, or you’re not going to win it.”

Karabin not only had a big day at the plate but also was in control on the mound for Freehold Boro, finishing the game with seven strikeouts and no walks. St. Rose had runners in every inning, but Karabin was able to keep the Roses scoreless until she had a comfortable lead.

“She [Karabin] grinded today,” DiBiase said. “She is our pitcher, and this is our third four-game week in a row, and she has thrown every inning. The fact that her stamina is where it is is impressive as to what she does in the offseason.”

St. Rose tried to claw back into the game, but every time they scored, Freehold Boro responded. The Purple Roses scored two runs in the 3rd and 4th innings to make it a 10-4 game, but the Colonials responded with three in the bottom of the 5th inning.

Freshman Morgan McGee launched her sixth home run of the season for St. Rose in the top of the 7th inning to make it 13-6.

Freehold Boro is a young team without a senior on the roster. Three juniors have the responsibility of leading three sophomores and four freshmen in the starting line-up. Center fielder Paige Sheridan, shortstop Ashley Koppelman, and first baseman Katherine Martin have all started since they were freshmen three years ago.

Martin, who is batting .389 on the season, went 2-for-3 with three RBI’s and made one of the best defensive plays when she picked a bad throw in the dirt at first base. Sheridan is batting .429 and covers a ton of real estate in center field. Koppelman, who will be playing at West Chester University in two years, is batting .462 on the season.

“Our core group of three juniors and our captains this year with Katherine [Martin], Paige [Sheridan], and Ashley [Koppelman],” DiBiase said. “They are great examples for these four young freshmen who are grinding through their first high school season. We are halfway through the 24-game schedule, and we have faced adversity, and they’re teaching them how to deal with that because they’ve gone through it already.”

The race for the division title has three teams within two games of Ocean, which currently has a 6-2 record after beating Manasquan today, 14-1. Freehold Boro has a 6-3 division record, while Manalapan is 4-3. Shore Regional is two games behind Ocean with a 5-4 division record. Ocean beat Freehold Boro 12-11 on April 14th. They meet again on Thursday, April 30th.

“We can only worry about us,” DiBiase said. “Ocean has us by one game in the loss column. We are going to go over there and play them again. It was a wild game here, one we lost by one, with a ton of runs scored. We are looking forward to the challenge.”