Cutoff week marks the end of a busy softball regular season across the Garden State.
It also signifies the final stretch for New Jersey’s graduating seniors, including Bridgewater-Raritan High School’s lone member of this June’s Class of 2026: Bri Cacchio.
Prior to the Panthers’ Monday evening game against Ridge High School, Cacchio received royal treatment from the visiting Red Devils, her Panthers teammates, and everyone in attendance at the North Bridge Street Softball Complex.
In a great pregame tribute on her Senior Night, the Red Devils lined up on the first-base fence. Cacchio, who is bound for Rowan University softball after graduation from Bridgewater-Raritan High School, rounded every base with groups of her Panthers’ teammates waiting with gift bags or other mementos at each checkpoint.
When she reached home plate, Cacchio posed for pictures with her family, coaches, and teammates: all who have been a part of her journey as a four-year starter across two sports at Bridgewater-Raritan.
“I’ve known Bri for a really long time,” shared Bridgewater-Raritan High School Class of 2017 graduate and Panthers head coach Katie Winchock, who is in her debut season as skipper following the retirement of longtime head coach Sandy Baranowski at the end of last season. “I actually used to babysit for her, and I remember her coming to the softball camps when I was working in high school.”
“It really is awesome to see it come full circle and to experience this with her, because I’ve known her for so long.”
Ironically, Cacchio was also the lone senior member of this winter’s Panthers’ girls’ basketball team, which also consisted of leading scorer and sophomore Amanda Ciser: a right fielder last year as a freshman. Cacchio helped guide the Bridgewater-Raritan High School girls’ basketball team to its best season under fourth-year head coach Xavier Brooks, and the Panthers’ 14-13 record marked the program’s first winning season since 2018.
With Cacchio stationed at third base again, Ciser moved directly adjacent to Cacchio for her final ride in a Bridgewater-Raritan uniform.
As a further testament to the connections between Cacchio’s basketball and softball careers at Bridgewater-Raritan High School, Ciser took over at shortstop this season for Class of 2025 graduate Angela Tremarco, who also played basketball and softball last year for the Panthers before taking her softball talents to Saint Peter’s University.
Like Saint Peter’s got with Tremarco, Rowan University is going to get a strong leader and player in Cacchio.
“Leadership comes naturally to people, and she obviously has that no matter what sport she is in,” praised Winchock about Cacchio, who is stationed at third base for Bridgewater-Raritan and right next to Ciser. “When you have that quality, it’s always going to be with you, and you’re going to take that wherever you go. When you get up to the college level, it really doesn’t matter what grade you are, and they emphasize that anybody can be a leader. It doesn’t matter at the high school level either, but in college, you really learn that.”
“I know that she’ll do great there.”
After the ceremony, Bridgewater-Raritan (10-12) and Ridge (8-8) went back to business as usual for a critical softball game, which was massive in both teams’ bids to earn at least one potential home game in the upcoming state sectional playoffs. Along with eight walks and seven hits at the plate by her team, Cacchio (one hit, two walks) collected six of the Panthers’ 21 defensive outs in an impressive showcase of her softball talents on Senior Night.
However, Ridge countered with two home runs by sophomore infielder Kelly Ross (two hits, four RBIs, two walks), including a three-run blast in the first inning that put the visitors in front for good. While the Panthers found themselves within striking distance the entire evening, Ridge junior starting pitcher Maddy Sauro (seven innings, seven hits, two earned runs, two strikeouts) and the Red Devils’ defense produced a gem on defense en route to a 5-2 road victory Monday, May 11, in Bridgewater.
Despite the setback against the rival Red Devils, who evened their record while embracing their recent role of ‘spoiler’ on North Bridge Street, Bridgewater-Raritan is now set up for the home stretch of its 2026 season.
The Red Devils and Panthers have not been Skyland Conference Delaware Division rivals since 2022, when Ridge was a part of a loaded nine-team division and finished with an overall record of 5-19, including 1-15 in the division. Although the Red Devils have been knocking on the door of their first winning season since 2019, when Ridge went 16-8 and qualified for the state sectional semifinals, they have either finished with an even record or one-below-even in their seasons since.
This notably includes the 2024 season, when Ridge’s last trip to Bridgewater-Raritan’s North Bridge Street Softball Complex ended with a similar outcome but with much higher stakes.
Back on May 22, 2024, the ninth-seeded Red Devils exploded for the game’s first seven runs: six of them in the top of the first inning, against the eighth-seeded Panthers in the first round of the NJSIAA North New Jersey, Section 2, Group 4, Softball Tournament. Bridgewater-Raritan furiously rallied to the tune of seven unanswered runs to tie the game and force extra innings, when the Red Devils scored twice in the top of the eighth inning before the Panthers got one back and loaded the bases.
With both teams’ seasons on the line, the Red Devils got a strikeout call on a full-count pitch to seal a memorable 9-8 upset victory.
Sauro was a freshman and had one at-bat in that game for Ridge, which went on to upset top-seeded Bayonne High School en route to finishing that year as a state sectional semifinalist.
In Baranowski’s final season as skipper last year, Bridgewater-Raritan advanced to the North 2, Group 4 semifinals and finished with a record of 15-8. That proved to be the Panthers’ first winning record since 2017, when Winchock helped contribute to Bridgewater-Raritan’s last Somerset County Tournament championship in her senior year en route to a 21-7 campaign.
With three games left in its 2026 regular season and at least one guaranteed postseason contest, Bridgewater-Raritan remains in contention for back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since the Panthers produced three such years from 2015-17, including a state sectional title in 2015 to go with their aforementioned 2017 county title.
It is certainly possible that Bridgewater-Raritan (10-12) and Ridge (8-8) could both meet again this postseason, as after Wednesday evening, the Panthers and Red Devils were ranked No. 6 and No. 9, respectively, in the North 2, Group 4 Power Points standings. New Jersey’s 12th-ranked team in Watchung Hills Regional High School (19-3): a Skyland Conference Delaware Division rival of the Panthers, is currently the top-ranked team in this section with the Saturday, May 16, cutoff date for games played towards state tournament seeding rapidly approaching.
Ridge (8-8, 3-4) is currently in the Skyland Conference Raritan Division with eighth-ranked Hillsborough High School (19-1, 7-0), Phillipsburg High School (11-6, 4-2), Franklin High School (10-7, 2-4), and Warren Hills Regional High School (6-12, 1-7). Amongst the Red Devils’ fellow Group 4 teams that will eventually launch their state tournament bids, Hillsborough and Franklin are currently No. 1 and No. 11, respectively, in the Central, Group 4 standings.
Phillipsburg is No. 5 in the Panthers’ and Red Devils’ aforementioned North 2, Group 4 standings.
Bridgewater-Raritan will serve as host to Bound Brook High School (8-11) next at 4 p.m. Friday, May 15, at the North Bridge Street Softball Complex in Bridgewater.