Mighty Oaks announce ambitious schedules for baseball, softball; baseball opens on Valentine’s Day, softball in March
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
CARNEYS POINT – The earliest scheduled season opener since they restarted the program, a 12-game Florida trip and the usual gauntlet of nationally ranked region opponents highlight Salem CC’s most ambitious 2025 baseball schedule.
“We’re excited for the schedule,” Mighty Oaks coach John Holt said. “It’s always a challenge when you’re in a conference arguably the best junior college conference in the country (with) three to four top 10 teams with three-game series.
“We’ve got to start early and prepare early and try to get some innings under our belt before we open up against the No. 3 team in the country in Brookdale (Feb. 28). We try to make our non-conference schedule as competitive as possible just so that we can keep up with the stress that is our conference schedule.”
The Mighty Oaks open the season with a doubleheader against Genesee (N.Y.) CC, a late addition to the schedule after Lehigh Carbon disbanded its program. The games slide in ahead of their Feb. 15 doubleheader with preseason D-II No. 22 Lansing (Mich.) CC, a team they were supposed to play in a multi-team event in Tennessee before that trip fell apart.
The Mighty Oaks play teams from eight different states and six teams in the various preseason JUCO national rankings.
They’ll get a taste for warm weather and hot competition on their eight-day trip to Lakeland, Fla., where they’ll play, among others, preseason D-II No. 21 Westchester CC and preseason D-III No. 6 SUNY-Niagara, whose head coach Holt recruited as a player when he coached at Burlington County.
“We’re excited to go to Florida,” Holt said. “It’s our first time back to Florida since we started this program back up. The schedule’s going to be a little more challenging, but I think the program’s ready to take that step.”
Their previous earliest season opener was Feb. 19, 2002, when they played Rockingham CC in North Carolina.
The Mighty Oaks play their home games at the Carneys Point Rec Complex. The softball team plays at the Pennsville Little League Complex.
2025 SALEM CC BASEBALL SCHEDULE
FEBRUARY
14: Genesee CC (2), TBA; 15: Lansing CC (2), noon; 17: at Bryant & Stratton (Va.) (2), noon; 28: Brookdale CC, 1:30 p.m.
MARCH
1: at Brookdale CC (2), noon; 7: at Delaware County CC, 3 p.m.; 8: Delaware County CC (2), noon; 10: Alexandria (Minn.) Tech & CC (2), 2:45 p.m.; 11: Prairie State (Ill.) (2), 1:15 p.m.; 12: Northland (Minn.) C&TC (2), 2 p.m.; 14: North Dakota State/Science, 9 a.m.; 14: Oakton (Ill.) CC, 1:45 p.m.; 15: SUNY Niagara (2), 9 a.m.; 16: Westchester CC (2), 10 a.m.; 18: Luzerne County CC, 3:30 p.m.; 21: at RCSJ-Cumberland, 3:30 p.m.; 22: RCSJ-Cumberland (2), noon; 26: Mercer County CC, 3:30 p.m.; 28: at Montgomery County (Pa.) CC, 3:30 p.m.; 29: Montgomery County (Pa.) CC (2), noon.
APRIL
4: at Middlesex, 3:30 p.m.; 5: Middlesex (2), noon; 8: Northampton CC, 3:30 p.m.; 9: at Northampton CC, 3:30 p.m.; 11: Camden CC, 3:30 p.m.; 12: at Camden CC (2), noon; 15: at Luzerne County CC, 3:30 p.m.; 16: at Mercer County CC, 3:30 p.m.; 18: Bergen CC, 3:30 p.m.; 19: at Bergen CC (2), noon; 22: RCSJ-Gloucester, 3:30 p.m.; 23: at RCSJ-Gloucester, 3:30 p.m.; 25: at Union, 3:30 p.m.; 26: Union (2), noon.
MAY
2: at Ocean CC, 3:30 p.m.; 3: Ocean CC (2), noon; 5: at Atlantic Cape CC, 3:30 p.m.
2025 SALEM CC SOFTBALL SCHEDULE
(All dates doubleheaders)
MARCH
1: Monroe-Bronx, noon; 7: Sussex County CC, noon; 10: at Southeastern CC-Whiteville (N.C.), 1 p.m.; 11: at Wake Tech (N.C.), 1 p.m.; 12: at Fayetteville (N.C.) Tech, 3 p.m.; 20: Brookdale CC, 3:30 p.m.; 23: at Delaware Tech, noon; 25: Raritan Valley CC, 3:30 p.m.; 28: Howard CC, 11 a.m.; 29: at CC of Morris, noon; 30: Bucks County CC, noon.
APRIL
1: Lackawanna, 3 p.m.; 3: at Camden CC, 3:30 p.m.; 5: Mercer County CC, noon; 8: at Sussex County CC, 3:30 p.m.; 11: Cecil, 3:30 p.m.; 12: Delaware Tech, noon; 13: at Orange County CC, noon; 15: Bergen CC, 3:30 p.m.; 19: at Mercer County CC, noon; 22: CC of Morris, 3:30 p.m.; 24: Lackawanna, 3:30 p.m.; 26: at Raritan Valley CC, noon
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