Maddy Barone was dominant this spring, and received high praise for her performance.
The Halifax native, Silver Lake Regional High School alum and pitcher on the Southern New Hampshire University softball team was chosen to be a Division II Conference Commissioners Association (D2CCA) All-America Honorable Mention, according to SNHU’s official athletics website. With the selection, Barone became just the second player in franchise history to earn a spot on the list.
The 5-foot-8 junior was dominant for SNHU this past spring, emerging as the team’s clear-cut ace. She pitched in 33 games, including 30 starts. She went 20-7 with a 1.25 ERA while striking out 182 batters in 206.2 innings pitched. She hurled 23 complete games, nine of which were shutouts. Her ERA and innings pitched led the New England 10 Conference while her appearances, complete games and shutouts ranked second among pitchers in the league.
Barone’s top performance of the season came on March 25 against Post. In a complete game win, she allowed just one hit and two walks over seven innings and struck out eight batters. SNHU won the game 6-0.
Barone’s teammate, fellow Silver Lake alum and Halifax native Emily Critch, a sophomore, also had a highly-productive season. In 52 games, the catcher/infielder hit .266 with eight home runs and a .765 OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage). After serving as the catcher in 2018, Critch primarily played third base this season.
SNHU went 38-15 on the season. Their season came to a close on May 11 following a 4-0 loss to Saint Anselm in Game 6 of the 2019 NCAA East Regional 1.
This past season, SNHU’s roster only featured one senior so with experienced players coming back next season–including Barone and Critch–the team has an opportunity to experience even more success next spring.