WOOD-RIDGE - Two weeks ago Gov. Livingston was one strike away from seeing a dream season come to a nightmare close.
It was Michael Novotny who saved an already highly-memorable 2025 campaign by, with two strikes and two outs in the bottom of the seventh, producing an RBI-single up the middle to keep GL's final at-bat rally alive.
Three batters later it was Ryan Pappas hitting an RBI-single in the same spot through to center field for the game-winning hit that kept the Highlander train going.
So it was only fitting that Pappas, once again, provided the game-winning hit and that the game's final out on Monday landed in Novotny's glove at first base.
A dream season, indeed, became reality Monday afternoon in Bergen County of all places as the Governor Livingston Highlanders did something no team in New Jersey has accomplished in 17 years. GL became the first squad to win a state championship undefeated.
Governor Livingston, the Central Jersey, Group 2 sectional state champion, defeated West Morris, the North 2, Group 2 sectional state champion, 6-1 in the Monday, June 16 Group 2 state championship game played at the Wood-Ridge Athletic Complex on 30 Kennedy Lane.
With the bases loaded and nobody out in the bottom of the fourth, Pappas drove in the game's first two runs on a two-run single to left to break a scoreless deadlock and give GL a 2-0 lead. A ground ball to second baseman Reid Bazydlo was fielded cleanly by Bazydlo and thrown to Novotny at first for the game's final out.
GL finished 28-0 and will close as the No. 1 team in New Jersey for the first time in program history. The Highlanders tied their single-season win record of 28, which was also attained in 2015 at 28-6 and 2024 at 28-5. Those GL teams also captured Group 2 state championships.
GL became the first team that will finish No. 1 in New Jersey undefeated since Don Bosco Prep achieved the feat in 2008 at 33-0. Greg Butler, the head coach of that team, was on hand in person Monday to see GL finish undefeated as he was part of the crew running the final three state championship games that were moved from Veterans Park in Hamilton.
“Because we were undefeated and had that pressure on us, we felt that we were the most prepared team," Pappas said. "Pressure makes diamonds.”
GL also accomplished this feat without having senior right-hander Matty Diskin available to pitch down the stretch. Diskin continued to make his contribution as GL's designated hitter and came through again Monday with a two-run single hit in the same spot to left field where Pappas hit his to make the score 4-0.
“It's really unbelievable that we were able to get through this without Matty on the mound," standout junior catcher Michael Basile said. "We made history because of all of our hard work.”
"I'm so proud of these kids," said GL head coach Chris Roof, who just guided the Highlanders to a fourth state championship and the program's fifth overall. Roof, a 1992 GL grad, was head coach Bill Howard's assistant coach in 1999 when GL captured its first Group 2 state title.
“I'm on cloud nine right now," Roof said. "This is the pinnacle. To be able to do the best you could possibly do is just incredible.”
GL scored all six of its runs in the bottom of the fourth, with the fifth run scoring on an error and the sixth on an RBI-single to left by leadoff batter Zach Geertsma.
GL also won games against Union Catholic and Raritan by scoring all of their runs in just one inning: against UC it was all five in the bottom of the first in a 5-0 UCT final win at Kean and vs. Raritan it was all three in the bottom of the seventh in a 3-2 home win.
Junior right-hander Keith Mann gave up only one run on five hits in six complete innings, striking out four and walking just one. He pitched perfect second and sixth innings and retired the final five batters he faced. Mann threw a total of 92 pitches.
“Keith was unbelievable," Basile said. "The middle of their order hit the ball better than we thought, but Keith did a great job.”
West Morris had runners on first and second with two outs in the third, but Mann ended the threat with his third strikeout. The Highlanders also had runners on first and second, but with only one out in the fourth before Mann retired the next two batters on a fly ball to left and a pop up to first.
Senior righty Anthony DeNora pitched a scoreless seventh inning for GL which included a well-executed 4-6-3 double play for the frame's first two outs.
