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As the tale is told, the legend continues to grow. Seems that as a freshman, Lauren Medeiros was slugging the softball at such a prolific rate for the junior varsity team at Seekonk High School, Warrior varsity coach Gary Miller was looking for a pinch-hitter in a game against King Philip High.

He summoned her from the junior varsity field and in her very first official varsity at-bat, on the very first pitch thrown her way, Medeiros socked the ball out of the park.

So when her senior season started just the other day at Bishop Feehan High, wouldn't you know it, in her very first at-bat, Medeiros belted another home run.

Medeiros been bashing the softball with such productivity that she is six hits shy of 100 for her career and seven shy of 100 career RBI. Not surprisingly, Medeiros is the most feared hitter in one of the best softball conferences in the Commonwealth, the South Coast Conference.

But, wait, the story is even more intriguing - because Medeiros, a natural right-hander, bats left-handed. Medeiros didn't play in youth softball leagues, she played Little League baseball, against mostly boys. And she made the Seekonk Middle School baseball team too.

An all-around athlete, Medeiros was an All-SCC selection in the field hockey. On the basketball floor, as a guard, she closed her career with just shy of 600 points, while totaling some 400 assists and 400 rebounds.

"There's not a better hitter out there and we're in a tough conference," said Miller of his No. 3 batter in the order. "She's a natural. It's a combination of everything - bat speed, good mechanics, she drives the ball."

Moreover Medeiros crushes the ball. So much so that opponents are wary of her whacking the ball and have come to issue her intentional walks (she walked twice against the Shamrocks), rather than suffer a far worse fate.

While she might be Seekonk High's incumbent shortstop, Medeiros also catches and plays any of the outfield positions.

She is held in such high esteem that when Assumption College softball coach Ralph DeLucia of Franklin recruited her (and signed her too), he said he would bestow a Greyhound honor upon her, taking the previously retired number (12) of his daughter, the one-time Northeast-10 Conference batting champ, out of the locker and putting it over her shoulders.

"I remember my dad (Ed Medeiros) taking me out to the park or in the backyard when I was five or six and hitting off a tee from the other side (left) of the plate for hours," said Medeiros. "It was really awkward. But, now I can't bat right-handed at all! I've tried and I'm so bad!"

So why the switch from the right side to the left side? Simple, says Seekonk High hitting guru Ed Medeiros. "It's closer to first base and you see a lot more right-handed pitchers than left-handed pitchers. Not to mention that my two all-time favorite players, Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski, were both left-handed hitters."

Facing faster pitches and swinging at a smaller ball makes hitting a big softball, thrown at speeds nowhere near as fast as a baseball, a piece of cake for Medeiros.

"When I played baseball, hitting was so difficult," said Medeiros the other day after practice, the Warriors preparing for a wicked week of games against Bishop Stang, Dighton-Rehoboth and Case. "Hitting a softball is so much easier. We have very good pitchers in our league (SCC), but it's easier for me to read the ball." Medeiros has generally carried a 23-ounce, 33-inch bat with her to the plate since her freshman year and does not tinker with her stance very much. She doesn't step into the ball so much as drive it. "I'm really wide (stance), I got it from baseball," said Medeiros, who lets her legs transfer the power through her hips and arms. "I don't step at all.

"I tried stepping, but I didn't get as much power. In that stance, it helps me concentrate and not get my hips moving. Power is generated from my legs."

Medeiros' power numbers last year were eye-popping - a .560 batting average (with 33 hits), a .640 on-base percentage (with 10 doubles, 11 walks) and a .828 slugging percentage (33 RBI).

"Like I told her a long time ago, don't ever think that you can't make it," said her dad, who watched her as a seven-, eight- and nine-year old play and make the Farm League all-star team, then as a 10-, 11- and 12-year old play and make the Little League all-star team.

"I look for inside pitches at the beginning of the count," said the Seekonk High team and offensive MVP for the 2008 season. "I've been working on hitting the ball to the opposite field, left field, a lot. People know they couldn't go inside, so they work me outside more now."

Medeiros has played every position on the field too, for whatever team that she represents. "I'm more comfortable at shortstop, that's where I played in little league," said Medeiros.

During the summer softball season, Medeiros plays with the R.I. Thunder, last year playing three games a day virtually every weekend, in Pennsylvania, in New York, in Delaware all through New England. "The pitchers are so much faster, the competition is so much better than high school.

"What really helps in that, is that I've learned to read different pitches. I'm getting so many at-bats, that really helps with your hitting and also situational hitting."

Even in those wiffleball games with her older brother Ed, the guys from the neighborhood on those idle or late summer days. "My team usually wins," chuckled Medeiros. "What'd you expect? I'm the only girl!"

PETER GOBIS may be contacted at 508-236-0375 or via e-mail at pgobis@thesunchronicle.com