DARTMOUTH -- If you thought this pitching matchup was great -- and it was -- wait until you see Saturday's. Delaney Moquin vs. Alyx Rossi, with a state championship hanging in the balance, is about as good as it gets for softball in Massachusetts.

Moquin, Silver Lake Regional High's senior ace, was in top form on Thursday, June 12, pitching a 2-hit shutout with 15 strikeouts to beat No. 5 Westfield, 1-0, in an MIAA Division 2 semifinal at UMass-Dartmouth. Addison Willett's fourth-inning RBI single, which scored Anna Craft from second base, spelled the difference for the top-seeded Lakers (21-3) against Bombers senior pitcher Shea Hurley, who threw a four-hitter.

In Saturday's final (1:30 p.m. at Worcester State) vs. No. 3 Bedford (21-1), Moquin will be matched up against a familiar face in Rossi, who earlier this week was crowned the Gatorade Player of the Year for the state.

"I've played against her in club, and I know she's a wicked good pitcher," Moquin said. "She's definitely going to put up a good fight (against) us."

According to the Gatorade news release, Rossi, a 5-9 southpaw, was 16-1 this season with 276 strikeouts in 120 innings pitched and 0.35 ERA going into the semifinal, which Bedford won, 3-1, over No. 2 Hopkinton. Opponents were hitting a miniscule 0.078 against her this spring.

Gatorade doesn't make the details of their selection public, but we'll assume that Moquin had a lot of support from voters as well. After all, the three-time Patriot League Keenan Division MVP has thrown 17 shutouts in 2025 and has allowed a single run over four playoff games with 52 strikeouts.

Against Westfield she was particularly ruthless against the bottom half of the order as hitters 5 through 9 went 0-for-13 with 12 K's.

"A team that has Delaney Moquin in the circle always has a chance to win," Silver Lake coach Tony Pina said. "We know Bedford and Rossi; we know what we're up against. We've got to beat Rossi, but they've got to beat Delaney Moquin. I'd put money on Delaney because I know her heart. I'm taking Delaney Moquin all day because of the blood, sweat and tears she's put into this game."

Silver Lake's Delaney Moquin delivers a pitch against Westfield High School during their tournament game on Thursday, June 12, 2025.

Moquin has been a standout in the pitching circle for three seasons. Given the stakes -- before Thursday, Silver Lake had made only one state final in program history, losing to St. Peter-Marian in the D1 title game in 2015 -- this might have been her finest outing yet for the Lakers.

"Every time she takes the field," Pina said, "it's going to be another chapter to a great story."

Ironically, Moquin's day started poorly as Bedford's Adyson Rowell led off the game with a bloop double down the right-field line and Sydney LaPanne reached on an error. Moquin notched her first strikeout but then hit cleanup batter Sophie Svantesson to load the bases with one out.

Pina laughed when asked if he had been tempted to visit the pitching circle and settle Moquin down.

"I would just get in her way," he said. "I have so much trust and faith and confidence in her to let her do what she needs to do. If I'm going out to the circle it's because I want to see where the team's going to dinner. I'm not giving her pitching advice."

Silver Lake Regional High School's Anna Craft scores the game's first (and only) run in the fourth inning off the bat of teammate Addison Willett, who singled against Westfield High School during their tournament game on Thursday, June 12, 2025.

Predictably, Moquin immediately stopped the nonsense, mowing down the next two hitters on 3-pitch strikeouts. Westfield, last year's Div. 2 runners-up, managed just two baserunners the rest of the game, on a leadoff single in the fourth and a one-out error in the sixth.

"She's just awesome," raved center fielder Alanna Waters, who made a terrific running catch to record the first out of the sixth inning. "You'll never see her getting down on herself. You'll never see her getting stressed out in situations like that, and it really calms us down."

"I just had to remember that nothing (decides) the game in the first inning," Moquin said of the early jam. "It's definitely not how we wanted to start the game ... I knew I had to brush it off and everyone would pick each other up. I just had to work through it."

Moquin got all the offense she would need in the fourth when Willett slapped a 1-2 changeup into center field with two outs to plate Craft, who had singled leading off the inning and then stolen second.

Silver Lake Regional High School players and coaches celebrate at the conclusion of their tournament game against Westfield High School on Thursday, June 12, 2025.

Willett is a great story. The second baseman had been pulled from the batting order at midseason as Pina opted to use a designated player in her spot and let her just play the field. He reversed his decision in the second round of the playoffs, and she made him look like a genius.

Said Pina: "She did what a senior captain needed to do in that moment."

Willett, who called the hit a "great confidence boost" for her, said, "I just waited on (the pitch). I kind of expected it. (I was) just so excited, so hyped to see Anna coming home. That was awesome."

Now the Lakers have one final chance at greatness. And Moquin will have a chance to author a fitting final chapter to her storied career.

"Obviously, it would be great to end it by winning a state championship," she said, "but I haven't really thought about (my place in Silver Lake history). I just know that it's gone by wicked fast, looking back to freshman year where I started at shortstop and didn't pitch more than a few innings. Looking back at that, I'm really excited to be where I am today."

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: 'Another chapter to a great story': Moquin pitches Silver Lake softball into Div. 2 final