Batter Up! SOMA Baseball/Softball Parade is on the Plate

This year’s Annual South Orange and Maplewood Softball and Baseball Parade is on Saturday, April 27.  The parade will start at 9 a.m. (teams start gathering at 8:30 a.m.) from Columbia High School's Ritzer Field and will head along Valley Street, turning into Memorial Park North.

Here's what you can expect, according to parade organizer Scott Lewis:

• The National Anthem will be sung by Tuscan Elementary School 4th-grader Alexandra Salort, and the Seton Hall Pirate is scheduled to appear.

• Maplewood's Mayor Vic DeLuca will throw out the ceremonial first softball pitch and South Orange Village President Alex Torpey will throw out the ceremonial first baseball pitch. Maplewood Fire Trucks and The Columbia High School Marching Band will lead the parade.

• Live music will be performed by a Mark Murphy student Band featuring Zachary Colton-Max (guitar and vocal), Zoe Crutcher (piano and vocal), Ethan Lane (guitar) and Yonatan Rekem (piano and vocal).