By ERIC BENEVIDES

Sports writer

PAWTUCKET --- Shea High continued to show signs of improvement, but Tolman High continued to have all the answers on Friday afternoon.
The undefeated Tigers parlayed 10 walks and eight hits at the plate with the strong one-hit pitching of junior ace Macayla Kirylo into a 14-4 victory over their crosstown rivals at Slater Park.
The win was the ninth for the defending Division III state champion Tigers -- and 27th straight dating back to last year’s perfect season – and seventh that was cut short by the 10-run mercy rule.
But the schedule promises to get a lot tougher for Tolman over the next few days. Tonight at 7 p.m., the Tigers will host second-place Davies Tech (9-1) at Slater Park, and on Monday at Scituate’s Manning Field, they will take on the team they dueled in last year’s finals, Scituate High (8-1).
The Tigers topped Davies by a 17-9 score in their second game of the year at the Patriots’ field, but they have yet to face the Spartans, who dropped a 7-2 decision to the Patriots last week.    
“We have a tough road ahead of us,” offered Tolman coach Craig Giarrusso. “Both of those teams are very good and just one game behind us, so we have an uphill battle these next few days.”
The Raiders, meanwhile, dropped to 2-8 and continued to take their lumps in their rebuilding season under first-year coach Mo Jackson, who only has two seniors in his starting lineup and finished Friday’s game with four freshmen and three sophomores in the field.
In the Raiders’ season opener against the Tigers, a 12-0 defeat at Max Read Field, Shea was no-hit by Kirylo, who struck out 13 batters and walked two, and added to its woes by committing six errors in the field.
But on Friday, the Raiders made better contact against Kirylo and only made two errors defensively behind starting pitcher Kelsey Davenport and reliever Kristen Potter.
“Like I’ve said, it’s a work in progress, but I’m proud of the way we played today,” noted Jackson. “We put the bat on the ball, we only made two errors, and the girls were hustling and were very supportive of each other. I think their confidence is building, and hopefully, we can win another two or three games before the season’s over.”
Offensively, the Tigers received two hits each from Natalie Federico, No. 9 batter Tara Delaive, and Kirylo, and leadoff batter Alex Lacoste also reached base four times with three walks and a RBI double in the fourth inning.
Federico snapped a 1-1 draw in the bottom of the first inning with a two-out bases-clearing triple and finished the contest with five RBIs, Delaive added a double and triple, and Kirylo also tripled and scored three runs.
On the mound, Kirylo finished the five-inning game with nine strikeouts and lost her no-hit bid with two outs in the fourth when freshman Donna Hobley lined a single to right field.
But the flamethrower also struggled mightily with her control, walking nine batters and uncorking four wild pitches, and that helped the Raiders produce their runs.
“Walks have been our nemesis,” added Giarrusso, who reported that Kirylo has walked 45 batters in her nine starts. “Outside of the walks, there haven’t been many runners getting on base. We’ve one-hit and two-hit teams and we’ve done a great job defensively, but we’re continuing to put people on base with walks and they’re continuing to score. If we get beat this year, I really believe that’s what going to hurt us.”
The Raiders took a 1-0 lead in their opening swings thanks to one of those walks, as Abigale Rodriguez drew a two-out walk, dashed to second on a passed ball, and stole third base, and when the throw to third sailed into left field, Rodriguez was able to score.
But the Tigers battled back with four runs in the home half of the inning, as Lacoste tied the score by scoring on a wild pitch and Federico untied it with her two-out triple belted over the head of center fielder Taylor Gomes.
Shea added another run in the second when Gomes and Alyson Catalon led off with walks and Kirylo fired a pair of wild pitches to bring Gomes around to score, but again, Tolman responded with another huge inning and scored five runs, two coming home on a line single to center by Kirylo.
After a scoreless third, the Tigers produced another five runs in the fourth, as Erin Girouard delivered a run-scoring single and Delaive and Federico laced back-to-back RBI doubles.
The Raiders did their best to avoid the mercy rule in the fifth by scoring two runs with the help of four walks, an infield error, and a wild pitch. They also loaded the bases with two outs, but Kirylo ended the suspense and the game with a strikeout. 
***
Shea        110    02—4-1-2
Tolman    450    5x—14-8-2
Kelsey Davenport, Kristen Potter (2) and Breanne DeWolf; Macayla Kirylo and Veronica LeJeune, Kayla Therriault (5). 2B – Tara Delaive (T), Alex Lacoste (T). 3B -- Natalie Federico (T), Tara Delaive (T), Macayla Kirylo (T).