Silva smashes away Charity event scores big weekend
The 2023 A Shot For Life Softball Home Run Derby was a different vibe for CEO and founder Mike Slonina, who is known for hosting basketball charity events throughout New England for the past 10-plus years.
But regardless of the sport, the results are always rewarding.
In the fourth annual ASFL Home Run Derby, Phoenyx Silva of La Salle Academy in Providence took home the engraved bat trophy as the junior outlasted 16 other top competitors from the New England area — with most players heading to or entertaining Division 1 colleges soon — at the New England Baseball Complex.
The first round had a shorter fence for bigger total numbers, but the competition gets tough as you move through the three rounds of play and the fence distance moves back as well. First round brings the top eight scorers to the second round.
In the second round, it is head-to-head competition with the four winners advancing to the finals to face off against each other. Silva had rounds of 46, 13, and won the event with 10 dingers in the finals to knock out the No.1 seed, Camryn Cloonan, 10-9.
Cloonan, a 2026 middle infielder for Dighton Rehoboth, was the final competitor and had five home runs at the timed break in the round. Cloonan ran out of gas and fell just short of tying Silva in the final minute of her second series in the final round.
“The past two days have been great and it’s great to be a junior in 2025 (class) and just want to wish luck to everyone else this season,” said Silva, who can return next season to try for the back-to-back crown. “I have some offers and it’s great to get calls, texts, and emails. This has been a great experience.”
“I expect (Phoenyx) to excel, she is one of the top athletes in New England,” said her derby pitcher, and dad, Dave Silva. “On our way here, she said ‘I don’t really care if I lose’ but as soon as the first swing happened — she is looking at me saying ‘Pitch better… pitch better. Don’t lose this for me…’, so it took two seconds for the competitor to come out,”
Rounding out the top eight hitters were Bella Bourque (Taunton), Brooke Aldrich (Taunton), Kylie Hogan (Tyngsboro), Angie Moroz, (Governors
Academy) Allie Gill (King Philip) and Bella Mara (Saint Paul). Moroz placed third with eight long balls in the final round while Gill rounded out the final four group.
Slonina started hosting basketball events to raise money when his mother was diagnosed with a potentially malignant tumor in 2011. The various events now support Tandem CAR T-cell therapy at Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center.
Slonina has expanded his outreach programs to football, hockey, lacrosse, soccer, and an entire weekend dedicated to baseball and softball with the Home Run Derby along with a pitching challenge for the non-hitters.
“We’ve really grown substantially the last few years and baseball and softball were our first test into new sports after we were a basketball program for so long,” said Slonina. “This is what really gave us the confidence that we could do football, soccer, hockey, and lacrosse. All the things we now do and now exist.