By Greg Dudek
BRIDGEWATER – Four turned into the magic number for the Silver Lake Regional High softball team Monday afternoon.
Trailing by one against Bridgewater-Raynham, the Lakers used a four-run fourth inning to propel it to a 7-1 win.
“The girls have shown they learn with every at-bat,” said Silver Lake head coach Tony Pina. “They become tougher every at-bat. Second, third time through the lineup we started to hit the ball really hard. So, I thought it was only a matter of time before we put enough balls in play to put some runs on the board.”
Chasing a run after Stephanie Cavallaro smacked a solo home run in the second inning to give B-R (3-1) a 1-0 lead, Silver Lake’s potent offense came alive the second time through the lineup.
Senior Maddy Barone (2-for-4, two RBI) leveled the score in the fourth with a single up the middle to plate junior Caroline Videtto (3-for-4). An error and a walk to Shannon Grindle followed to load the bases.
Then, senior Leah Mackiewicz put Silver Lake (5-0) in front with a two-run single down the left field line and came around to score when senior Madeline Critch drove her in with a double to take a 4-1 advantage.
“They just need to get a couple looks at a pitcher and get some swings against a pitcher to figure it out and that was the case today,” Pina said.
The Lakers added three more runs – one in the fifth and two in the seventh – but the lead was already in good hands with Maddy Barone pitching.
Barone got stronger as the game went on, tossing a complete-game while allowing five hits, one run and striking out 13.
"That's got to be the highest strikeout total my team has put up in a real long time," said B-R head coach Mike Carrozza. "She was coming right at them."