Middle’s Herlihy named CAL’s top senior female athlete

By BRIAN CUNNIFF

Middle Township High School three-sport standout Kate Herlihy has been named the Schoppy Award winner as the top senior female athlete in the Cape-Atlantic League.

The award was made official Wednesday afternoon.

The Schoppy Award is sponsored by Prime Events and is voted upon by media members who cover Cape-Atlantic League sports.

Ocean City’s Gannon Brady was the boys winner.

Already considered one of the top athletes in Middle Township High School history, Herlihy was a four-sport standout and a recipient of 12 varsity letters from the school. All told, Herlihy was a nine-time Cape-Atlantic League all-star across four different sports.

In field hockey, Herlihy scored 102 career goals, becoming just the second 100-goal scorer in program history (joining her older sister, Jenna), and last fall led Middle to a sectional championship. In basketball, Herlihy scored 1,239 career points and helped Middle to back-to-back appearances in a South Jersey final as a sophomore and junior, before leading the team to an 8-1 record and the CAL East Conference title in a pandemic-shortened season as a junior. And in lacrosse, a sport in which she competed for only two seasons, Herlihy scored 55 career goals as a midfielder. Herlihy ran track in the spring as a freshman, qualifying for the state championship meet in the 400 hurdles, and missed her junior lacrosse season when the spring season was canceled due to the pandemic.

After drawing college interest in all three of the sports in which she played, Herlihy is set to play college basketball at Division III Rowan University.

Wildwood Catholic’s Marianna Papazoglou, a four-year basketball and soccer standout who also played softball for one season as a sophomore, was also a finalist for the girls award. Other Cape May County girls finalists included Ocean City’s Tara McNally (field hockey, lacrosse), Alexa Palmieri (cross country, track) and Faith Slimmer (soccer).

Brady, the boys winner, led South Jersey in scoring as a senior in basketball, posting 29.3 points to go along with 7.3 rebounds per game. In baseball, Brady takes a pitching record of 5-3 with 77 strikeouts in 50 innings pitched and a batting average of .310 with five home runs into this weekend’s state championship game.

Brady is set to play college baseball at Division I Fordham.

Middle Township’s Max Gilbert (soccer, tennis) was also a finalist for the boys award. Other Cape May County boys finalists included Jake Inserra (football, lacrosse), Brady Rauner (football, basketball, lacrosse) and Joe Repetti (football, basketball, baseball).