Awards time! Honoring the best from South Jersey softball for 2026 season

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The Courier-Post unveils its awards for the 2026 high school softball season.

Alaina Dorsey wasn’t just a game changer for the St. Joseph Academy softball team.

“She’s a program changer,” Wildcats head coach Les Olson said. “When you see her day in and day out, you sometimes take her talent for granted, but the thing that always stood out for me was when she came to practice, it was like it’s game day. And it was that way for every practice.”

One of the best to ever don the Wildcats uniform, Dorsey finished her senior season in style, batting a career-best .522 with 47 hits, 54 runs scored and 41 stolen bases. She helped lead the team to its seventh straight sectional championship and its second consecutive Cape-Atlantic League Tournament title.

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For her accomplishments, Dorsey has been named the Courier-Post's Softball Player of the Year.

“This year was really special because of the bond we had as a team,” said the Seton Hall-bound Dorsey, who plans on studying forensic accounting in college. “I love the vibe we had, even if we didn’t accomplish everything we set out to do, there was a special energy with this team and so much fun to be a part of.”

While Dorsey’s quickness is what draws the most attention, that’s just one part of her polished skills on the softball diamond.

When she isn’t slapping for a hit, Dorsey has the ability to turn on pitches and displays her extra-base power. Dorsey had a career-best 47 hits this spring, 13 of which went for extra bases, including eight triples. She finished her career with 24 three-baggers.

“See your pitch, hit it and get on base,” Dorsey, who hails from Mays Landing, said about her game plan as she steps into the batter’s box. “I’m just looking to hit the ball and run hard.”

While she creates fits for opposing pitchers, Dorsey is a defensive dynamo with her ability to cover so much ground and turn extra-base hits into outs. This spring, she robbed home runs in games against rivals Vineland and Hammonton.

However, Dorsey’s most impressive ability is to raise her game even higher when there’s more at stake. In four state finals, Dorsey recorded eight hits, including three in the Wildcats’ state championship season in 2023, and made several great catches and had an outfield assist.

“Her game was on full display at Kean and Ivy Hill Park (sites of the state finals over the last four years,” Olson said. “That's just the type of player she is."

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Pitcher of the Year: Gloucester's Emma Dick​

Gloucester’s Emma Dick is the pure definition of a pitcher.

While she doesn’t possess the high-velocity stuff to thwart hitters, the senior right-hander attacks hitters like an artist, brushing the corners and moving the ball around the zone, inducing plenty of soft contact.

The William Paterson-bound Dick went 17-3 for the Lions, posting a 0.85 ERA, a 0.83 WHIP and 10 shutouts in her 20 starts. For her accomplishments, she is the Courier-Post Pitcher of the Year for the 2026 season.

Gloucester head coach Megan Mason called the pitch, Dick executed the plan with pinpoint precision.

Dick allowed one-or-fewer runs in each of her first seven starts. In May, she put together a dominate stretch of shutout ball, putting up zeroes in eight of 10 starts, including a stretch of four straight.

After leading the Lions to the state Group 1 title last spring, Dick kept the success rolling in ’26 while adding another dimension to her game. She raised her strikeout total significantly this spring, recording 196 Ks in fewer than 149 innings. Seven of her double-digit strikeout games came in her final 10 starts.

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Coach of the Year: Diane Nelson, Kingsway​

Even with a switch in head coaches, Kingsway softball didn’t miss a beat this spring.

That’s because Diane Nelson made the smoothest of transitions in her new job.

In her first season with the Dragons, Nelson guided the squad to its third sectional title in four seasons and an appearance in the state final for the first time in 14 years.

For her accomplishments, Nelson is the Courier-Post’s Softball Coach of the Year.

Despite a roster with mixed with seasoned veterans and plenty of fresh new faces, Nelson’s calm, cool demeaner was reflected in her club. These Dragons never wilted even in the hottest of situations.

Kingsway went 21-6 en route to the Tri-County Conference Royal Division title and the top seed in the South Jersey Group 4 tournament. The team rallied from a two-run deficit in the seventh inning to knock off Atlantic County Tech in the opening round and won two more games in a row to reach the sectional final.

The Dragons won a pair of eight-inning thrillers against Cherokee in the South Jersey championship game and Marlboro in the state semifinal to earn the trip to Ivy Hill Park, site of the state final.

While Kingsway’s season ended on a sour note with a 14-0 loss to Morris Knolls, the tradition of its softball program continued to get stronger under Nelson.

South Jersey Mean 15 final rankings​

1. St. Joseph Academy (25-4)

2. Kingsway (21-6)

3. Northern Burlington (22-4)

4. Cherokee (21-5)

5. Gloucester (21-3)

6. Vineland (17-8-1)

7. Ocean City (23-7)

8. Rancocas Valley (19-8)

9. Clearview (18-9)

10. Cherry Hill East (15-6)

11. Hammonton (22-5)

12. West Deptford (18-8)

13. Bordentown (13-12)

14. Delran (20-9)

15. Pennsville (18-8)

Tom McGurk is a regional sports editor for the Courier-Post, The Daily Journal and Burlington County Times, covering South Jersey sports for over 35 years. If you have a sports story that needs to be told, contact him by email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @McGurkSports. Help support local journalism with a digital subscription.

This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Honoring the best from South Jersey softball for the 2026 season.

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