PROVIDENCE — After suffering its first loss of the season on Monday, the La Salle softball team responded the best way it knows how — by mashing the ball into oblivion.

When the Rams come up to the plate, it’s a must-see event because everybody seems to be a threat to go deep. On Saturday against St. Raphael, Phoenyx Silva continued to show she’s not just the best freshman in the state — she's one of the best players. Her grand slam highlighted a five-RBI day as the Rams rolled to an 11-0 win over the Saints, closing out their week in a much different fashion than it started.

“We definitely know now that we can be beaten,” La Salle starting pitcher Jaiden Tonucci said. “It was definitely a wake-up call and I think we needed to have the pressure on us and see how we react to it.”

“Sometimes you have to deal with a loss and adjust how you did the previous week,” said Silva, after her five-RBI performance. “You’re not always going to win, so you’re going to have to prepare yourself mentally for the next game and not worry about the past.”

With Silva, it’s a lot more fun to think about what the future holds, because the freshman is a softball wrecking machine.

She’s been instant offense for the Rams, hitting third in a lineup that’s stacked with talent. When Silva makes contact, the ball usually ends up going a long way.

Up, 2-0, with the bases juiced and two outs in the second inning, Silva hit a bomb to left-center field. Silva raced around the bases, then was mobbed by teammates as she crossed the plate.

“It’s my first time doing that, so it was really nice,” said Silva of the grand slam. “My team supporting me at home, I appreciated it a lot.”

“She’s insane. She’s really good and we’re lucky to have her,” Tonucci said. “It was a good addition to the team.”

Photos:Division I Softball - La Salle at Bay View

Silva’s bomb provided instant energy. Every time a ball sounded good and looked like it had a chance to leave the yard, the Rams jumped off the bench ready to celebrate.

But La Salle doesn’t just enjoy home runs. The Rams went nuts on Silva’s sharp RBI single in the fourth and freshman Lily Roumelis' double down the right-field line. That scored two and put the game past the 10-run mercy rule threshold.

“When we have energy, it’s like nothing can stop us,” Tonucci said. “We go in waves; we’ll start making mistakes or something, so it’s good when we can keep our energy up.”

The Rams' bench exploded when Mary Lynn Sullivan hit a shot to left field that looked gone until St. Raphael’s Samantha Superczynski made the catch of the season. The Saints’ sophomore was in a dead sprint toward the fence the second the ball was smoked, leaped and made the catch before crashing into the fence.

“My first thought is catch it," Superczynski said. "I didn’t even know the fence was behind me. As soon as it was hit, you hear the sound and are like, ‘That’s gone,’ but you’ve got to try to catch it.”

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La Salle scored two runs on what could only be scored as a sacrifice fly, which was like the Saints’ last 10 days in a nutshell. After opening the season with three wins, St. Raphael has now lost three of its last four, and Saturday was the second straight game in which the Saints had been shut out.

“We’re in a bit of a slump and we’re going to work our way out of it,” Superczynski said. “We need a little more motivation to want to work at it. I want to and I know a lot of other people do, too, so as a whole, we have to get out there and work.”

La Salle will move forward with the same mindset. After losing to Bay View on Monday, an 11-1 win over South Kingstown on Friday and Saturday’s 11-0 win were great ways to get back on track.

The Rams play Chariho on Monday before a big game with Coventry on Wednesday.

“This was a good step in the right direction for us because we definitely needed another win after that tough loss,” Tonucci said. “We bounced back.”

“We just think that practices have to be harder than games and if that happens, games are going to be light work,” Silva said. “We’re going to come in, mentally be focused and do what we do.”