KINGSTON — Even with an early deficit, eighth-seeded Silver Lake battled again and by no means trailed after the primary inning to advance to the Div. 2 softball quarterfinals.
With a resilient backside of the order, the Lakers got here away with a 6-2 victory over No. 9 Grafton within the Div. 2 Round of 16 contest at Silver Lake Thursday afternoon.
“What we’ve focused on this year is staying composed,” stated Lakers coach Tony Pina about with the ability to shake off the early deficit. “Our highs don’t get too high and our lows don’t get too low.”
Silver Lake (20-2) scored rapidly after permitting a homer within the prime of the primary as a Madyson Bryan grounder to quick scored Alanna Waters from third knotted the rating 1-1.
In the underside of the second, junior captain Nina O’Neil led off the body by reaching by way of a stroll and sophomore Hannah Selig put two runners in scoring place with a double to left. Sophomore Kenna Slyker stepped as much as the dish and hit the primary pitch simply over the left discipline foul pole to place the Lakers in entrance for good at 4-1.
“As a No. 8 batter (Slyker) came up and was able to square one up,” Pina stated. “If you look at the book, the bottom of our order gave (Grafton) some problems.”
The backside third of the lineup acquired on base 5 out of 10 occasions within the contest.
Silver Lake acquired one other run within the fourth with an RBI double for junior captain Samantha Waters to attain Slyker from second to push the result in 5-1.
Lakers completed off the scoring with an RBI single up the center for Bryan to attain Waters within the sixth to make it 6-2. This got here simply after Grafton (16-6) scored a run on two Silver Lake errors.
Not to be outdone, sophomore Delaney Moquin pitched nicely on the hill to restrict the Gators’ assault.
“(Moquin) just goes about her business,” stated Pina concerning the Patriot League MVP. “She is a pitcher and not a thrower. She will throw all of her pitches at any point and she has confidence in all of her pitches.”
She completed with 9 strikeouts and the lone earned run got here on a house run for senior Abby DuBois.
Next up, the Lakers will journey simply over two hours to tackle top-seeded and reigning Div. 2 champion Westfield on Saturday at Noon.
“We are going in there loose and going there expecting to compete,” stated Pina about making the trek to Westfield.
Source: www.bostonherald.com