Maybe it was not what the Silver Lake High softball team had in mind, but it still goes down as a successful year.

The Lakers won their first 25 straight games which made them a favorite to win the state title. Their success led them to the Division 1 South final but ultimately, that would be as far as they would make it. On Saturday, June 10, their year came to a close as they took a 4-0 loss to Milford at Taunton High School.

At the plate, the Lakers were able to make contact–and lots of it. They did not strike out once, but Milford had a quality pitcher on the mound, who was able to prevent hard contact. The Lakers were limited to one hit in the contest; it was an infield single from Anna Battista in the bottom of the fifth inning.

While the Lakers were able to make a lot of contact in the contest, they simply just had some bad luck with it. Most of the balls they hit were taken care of by Milford’s clean infield defense. As a result, they only got a runner in scoring position on one occasion. On the mound, Jill Richards took the loss. But she managed to strike out six batters and only allowed one extra-base hit.

Milford had the bulk of their success offensively in the third inning of the contest. They put up three runs on five hits, which put them ahead up 3-0. In the top of the sixth, they added another run on a bases-loaded single.

The win improved Milford to 23-1.

In the Lakers previous three games before playing Milford, they put up 26 runs.

Last year, the Lakers had a similar year; they fell, 5-2, in the Div. 1 South final against Bishop Feehan.

A .500 record of nine wins and nine losses was enough to lead the Silver Lake boys’ lacrosse team to the playoffs. And despite being a No. 17 seed, they played a competitive game against a tough program in the preliminary round of the MIAA Division 1 South playoff bracket.

On Wednesday, May 31, the Lakers made the trip north to Newton South High School to take on Newton South. Despite the Lakers’ surge at the end of the regular season, winning seven of their last ten, they came up just short in their playoff game, taking an 11-10 loss, which ended their season.

The Lakers entered the fourth quarter trailing by two goals and while they actually managed to outscore their foe in the final 12 minutes of the contest. Their tight defense held Newton South to just one goal in the fourth quarter, but even that strong defense could not supplement for the strong play in net from their opponent’s tough goalkeeper, who protected a one-goal lead late in the contest.

In the early going, the Lakers game plan on the attack went particularly well. They jumped out to a 4-0 lead thanks to strong execution and by the end of the first quarter, they owned a 4-1 lead. Freshman attacker Gregory Wolff put up a pair of goals in the quarter; senior midfielder Drew Neal and sophomore attacker Brendan Dean put up the other two. 

Making it to the playoffs in itself was a major accomplishment for the program, a team who won just one game the year prior–against a Milton High team that went defeated–0-18–on the year.

Now, the Lakers will graduate 10 seniors: midfielder Myles Toole, midfielder Nolan McDonald, midfielder Jared Silveira, defender Jack Walsh, defender Jonathan Lawless, midfielder Cameron Lambert, defender Thomas Bruce, attacker Tyler Heath, midfielder Timothy Feight and midfielder Drew Neal.

The Silver Lake girls lacrosse team made history this season.

For the first time, they found themselves in the playoffs after a 14-6 regular season and earned themselves the No. 11 seed in the MIAA Division 1 South playoffs. On Tuesday, May 30, they faced the No. 6 Hingham Harborwomen on the road and took a 16-7 loss, which ends their season.

In the early going, the Harborwomen controlled play, going on a 6-0 run before junior midfielder Cam Daly put up back-to-back goals in the second quarter, making it a 7-3 game. But the Harborwomen scored four of the next five goals, spanning into the first few minutes of the second half.

Daly had a very strong performance on the attack for the Lakers. She put up a team-best five goals in the playoff loss to Hingham. Junior attacker Sarah Brockway and senior defender Danielle Levin put up the other two goals for the Lakers.

Although the Lakers were not able to come out on top, making it as far as they did was an accomplishment in itself.

“They just kept having a goal of, let’s get to tournament, let’s get to tournament,’” Lakers head coach Taylor Wiedemann said. “Now we’ve got there so it’s let’s get better, let’s get as far as we can.”

The Lakers will graduate a strong senior class of eight. Their captains were midfielder Lea Mason and defenders Jessica Huard and Nina Whidden. The Lakers will also graduate fellow defenders Tess Griever, Mikaela Wilson, Danielle Levin, Taylor Barnett and attacker Lyndsay Kramer.

Junior goalkeeper Devin Zambruno had a strong season in net and sophomore attackers Ann Chapman and Claudia Scigliano helped lead the team’s scoring effort throughout the year.

In the regular season, the Lakers also fell to Hingham, 17-4, on Thursday, May 18 at home.

One run is all that separated the playoff-bound Silver Lake baseball team from a Patriot League title.

Ultimately, they did not get the win in what turned out to be the league championship game, but the Lakers made a strong effort and put together a convincing comeback effort in their 6-5 road loss to the Whitman-Hanson Panthers on Saturday afternoon.

A five-run fourth inning made the difference in the contest. Heading into the inning, the game was tied at one apiece but by end of it, Whitman-Hanson led, 6-1.

The Lakers first score of the game came in the top half of the first inning. With one out, Dan Collins knocked in an RBI single, giving his team a 1-0 lead. Josh Harvey, who led off the game with a single, scored the run.

Although they trailed heading into the sixth inning, the Lakers did not give up. In all, they tacked on three runs, making it a 6-4 game. The Lakers got two of their runs on a single from Connor Molloy. Harvey drove in the other run, also with a single.

In the top of the seventh, the Lakers comeback effort got shut down. Before they were done though, Matt Bettle hit a sacrifice fly — which scored Collins — to make it a 1-run game. The sac fly, however, came when there was already an out in the inning, so the next out ended the ballgame.

The Lakers reached base in every single inning of the game.

Albeit they did not get the league title, the Lakers are still having a strong year and are in position for a potentially deep playoff run. After all, they were 12-6 on the year.

The Lakers wrap up their regular season at home on Friday, May 26 against St. John Paul II, a private school in Hyannis (Barnstable, Mass.). First pitch is set for 4:30 p.m. in that one.

As much as track is about athleticism, it is a sport based around numbers: whoever runs faster, throws further or jumps higher is the winner.

Individual athletes from the Silver Lake high boys and girls track teams had an opportunity to see how their numbers matched up against runners from across the state on Saturday, May 13 at the MSTCA Coaches Invitational Outdoor meet. The boys competed at Boston College High School in Dorchester while the girls’ meet was held at Sharon High School.

While there were no team winners at the meet, it presented teams with a unique opportunity to gage their performances, especially with freshman and sophomore events in addition to varsity ones. The Lakers major success in a pair of sophomore events.

On the girls side, Alison McDonough placed fifth in the sophomore 100 meter dash (13.13 seconds) while the sophomore boys 4×100 meter relay team–featuring Tristan Arendt, Ryan Tierney, Kevin Donohue, and Marshall Roy finished their race in 47.07 seconds, which was good for a third place finish.

On varsity, senior Ali Gavigan had a strong performance in the 2-mile run, finishing 21st as she finished the race in 12:06.09. She broke her previous personal-best mark by over 20 seconds. In shotput, junior Madeline Schlagar’s best throw was 32 feet 8.5 inches, which was gave her a 10th place finish in the event.

For the varsity boys, junior Max Shirikjian had the highest placing in an event: 14th in the long jump with his 20-foot 2-inch leap.

Junior Nathan Thacker had a strong performance throwing javelin; his best throw of the day was 132-09.00, which earned him a 24th place finish overall.

Albeit no team scores were kept, the meet can serve as a preview to the State Championship meets because it is geared toward individual performance and features a wide array of schools.

If you want to see a dominant high school sports team, then look no further than the Silver Lake girls softball team.

The Lakers came into this week undefeated, at 12-0, putting them near the top of a handful of statewide rankings. That is even a big deal for a team who returned a lot of talent, but not a surprise for a team that has played as well as they are playing.

Their most impressive win of the year came last Wednesday, May 3, when they beat Bridgewater-Raynham, 5-4, on a Jill Richards walkoff hit. Albeit she hits well for the team, she is also their primary starting pitcher for the team and a major reason why they are playing as well as they are this year.

Although they are a talented squad, what impresses about the Lakers simply put is their ability to find ways to win games. Sure they have played their share of blowouts, beating up on weaker competition, but have five wins by two runs or less, a sign they do not give up when they face adversity. And among those blowout wins was a 30-0 win over Hingham on Monday, May 1, which is about as much of an indication that the team can hit as possible.

The team is led by their senior captains Emily Critch, Kelly Danahy, Anna Battista and Caroline Videtto at the top, although the team is loaded with valuable players.

The way the Lakers have played this season, they have already clinched a spot in their respective playoff bracket and they appear to be poised for another deep playoff run. After all, they made it to the south section final last year and the state final a year prior.

The Lakers next game is Friday, May 12 at Duxbury High School, and the time is to be determined.

Last year’s high school softball star is this year’s college softball star.

It did not take 2016 Silver Lake alum Maddy Barone long to make a major impact on the Southern New Hampshire University softball team.

Albeit she is only a freshman, Barone has been her team’s most-used pitcher. To start the week, she had made a team-high 23 appearances, including 17 starts, and she had pitched a team-best 109.2 innings. In that timeframe, she amassed an 9-7 record with a 2.87 ERA. She had also struck out 77 batters and hurled seven complete games. Of those six complete games, three were shutouts: February 17 against Le Moyne, March 10 against Caldwell and April 15 against Stonehill College.

At her age, however, many players struggle to find playing time on their collegiate teams. With that in mind, it is safe to say Barone will likely be enjoying even more success in years to come. After all, she enjoyed quite the career at Silver Lake.

The Halifax native, who starred in three sports (also basketball and soccer), was a vital piece of the Lakers success for the duration of her high school career. She went 83-9 and threw 45 shutouts and 10 no-hitters while posting a 0.47 ERA in her career with the team. Albeit she is at college for her pitching, Barone also had a .460 batting average in her varsity softball career. Thanks to that success, she was named the Gatorade Massachusetts Softball Player of the Year last season. She is the only softball player in Lakers history to win the award.

At the start of the week, Barone’s team was 25-19 through 44 regular season games. This week, they were set to compete in the Northeast-10 tournament bracket.