Big Game Brooke: Taunton's Aldrich continues postseason hot streak in D1 Elite Eight win

TAUNTON— There's just something about the postseason that brings out the best in Brooke Aldrich.

"It’s hype," Aldrich said. "It’s the atmosphere, it’s the energy and it’s time to go big."

The junior shortstop has developed a reputation for coming in clutch in the tournament, from a three-home run performance against Newton South as a freshman to a grand slam against Woburn last year. Saturday was no exception as she led the way at the plate for No. 3 Taunton (23-0, 16-0 Hockomock League), going 2-for-4 with a pair of runs and four RBIs, including a three-run home run, as the Tigers beat No. 11 Methuen 12-2 to reach its fourth straight Division 1 Final Four.

"She’s seeing the ball so much better coming in," Taunton coach Michelle Raposo said. "She’s hitting the ball at the perfect time and she just has this confidence to her in the postseason, so it’s nice to see that she’s actually getting the good contact and the confidence is there for her."

Aldrich opened up the scoring in the bottom of the first as she sent a hard-hit ball over the right-center fence to give the back-to-back-to-back Division 1 champions the early 3-0 lead for her fourth home run this postseason. While hitting the long ball isn't her main focus, Aldrich said it's something that's certainly welcome.

"I’m really just focusing on seeing it to contact and hitting it hard," Aldrich said. "It’s just the outcome of the mindset of swinging through the ball and connecting to it."

The next inning, Aldrich hit a single to right that, thanks to an error, she was able to drive in both freshman catcher Aniyah Bailey (2-for-3 with two runs and two RBIs) and herself to make it 6-0. The Tigers would tack on another run in the fourth before adding four more in the fifth, including an RBI for Aldrich off a sacrifice fly, and a final run in the sixth.

Other notable contributors at the plate were freshman third baseman Bella Bourque, who went 3-for-4 with a triple, and a pair of runs, senior center fielder Molly Carnes, who went 2-for-3 with a run and a pair of RBIs and sophomore left fielder Tori Corrao, who went 1-for-1 with a pair of runs.

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In the circle, senior pitcher and newly crowned 2023-24 Gatorade Mass. Softball Player of the Year Sam Lincoln had another strong outing, going all seven innings giving up two unearned runs on a hit and a pair of walks while striking out 16.

"She just keeps coming out here and doing what she does best," Raposo said. "We saw a lot more of her changeup today which was much needed and we keep talking about how we have to throw those in a little bit more and she did a great job with those."

In the field, however, the usually tight Taunton defense committed five errors, with both Ranger runs resulting from mistakes. It was a performance that Raposo described as "uncharacteristic" of her squad, though she was glad to see it not get to them too much.

"It was good for me to see what they were going to do and how they perform and react to it," Raposo said. "I’m glad it was in a game where we were ahead by a few runs, so it wasn’t detrimental to us, so we’ve got to get back to work and minimize those errors."

"We just try to focus on resetting," Aldrich said. "Errors are going to happen, but it’s what you do after to bounce back from them (that matters)."

The Tigers now move on to the Final Four and a showdown with No. 2 Central Catholic in a rematch of last year's Division 1 final. While a date, time and location are yet to be determined, Raposo feels her girls are ready for the challenge ahead.

"We just need to come out and be confident," Raposo said. "We just need to play a strong defense and keep our bats working."

Taunton Daily Gazette sports reporter Cameron Merritt can be reached at cmerritt@tauntongazette.com. You can follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @CamMerritt_News. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to the Taunton Daily Gazette today.

This article originally appeared on The Taunton Daily Gazette: Taunton softball's Brooke Aldrich hits fourth home run in three game