KINGSTON — Even with an early deficit, eighth-seeded Silver Lake battled back and never trailed after the first inning to advance to the Div. 2 softball quarterfinals.
With a resilient bottom of the order, the Lakers came away with a 6-2 victory over No. 9 Grafton in the Div. 2 Round of 16 contest at Silver Lake Thursday afternoon.
“What we’ve focused on this year is staying composed,” said Lakers coach Tony Pina about being able 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 quickly after allowing a homer in the top of the first as a Madyson Bryan grounder to short scored Alanna Waters from third knotted the score 1-1.
In the bottom of the second, junior captain Nina O’Neil led off the frame by reaching via a walk and sophomore Hannah Selig put two runners in scoring position with a double to left. Sophomore Kenna Slyker stepped up to the dish and hit the first pitch just over the left field foul pole to put the Lakers in front for good at 4-1.
“As a No. 8 batter (Slyker) came up and was able to square one up,” Pina said. “If you look at the book, the bottom of our order gave (Grafton) some problems.”
The bottom third of the lineup got on base five out of 10 times in the contest.
Silver Lake got another run in the fourth with an RBI double for junior captain Samantha Waters to score Slyker from second to push the lead to 5-1.
Lakers finished off the scoring with an RBI single up the middle for Bryan to score Waters in the sixth to make it 6-2. This came just after Grafton (16-6) scored a run on two Silver Lake errors.
Not to be outdone, sophomore Delaney Moquin pitched well on the hill to limit the Gators’ attack.
“(Moquin) just goes about her business,” said Pina about 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 finished with nine strikeouts and the lone earned run came on a home run for senior Abby DuBois.
Next up, the Lakers will travel just over two hours to take on top-seeded and reigning Div. 2 champion Westfield on Saturday at Noon.
“We are going in there loose and going there expecting to compete,” said Pina about making the trek to Westfield.