All three of the area’s high schools had athletic teams that excelled on Saturday.

The Pinelands Regional High School softball team won its first-ever Ocean County championship when it defeated Jackson Memorial, 3-2. The Barnegat High School baseball team advanced to its first-ever Ocean County Tournament championship game – scheduled to be played on Tuesday (after this week’s SandPaper goes to press) – when that team also beat a Jackson Memorial squad, 8-0, in a semifinal clash.