Tiverton softball captures second straight Division III championship
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PROVIDENCE — Tiverton softball owned its division again.
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A championship run last year was followed by an undefeated season against Division III opponents. The Tigers weren’t tested this spring against their league foes and were only stopped by inclement weather in the playoffs.
But even the storm in the winner’s-bracket final only delayed Tiverton’s second straight softball crown. No. 1 Tiverton (18-2) grabbed their fifth overall softball crown with a 5-2 defeat of No. 2 Rogers (16-2) under sunshine at the Dayna A. Bazar Softball Complex on Sunday, June 7. Tiverton had run-rule victories over Classical and Cranston East in the first two rounds of the playoffs.
The Tigers then beat the Vikings, 14-9, on June 2 after the game was delayed nearly 44 hours to reach the championship round.
“We definitely did have nerves — we knew we were playing a good team,” Tiverton’s Lia Doster said. “[Lila Leys] is a very good pitcher and they’re a good team. But coming back and being in the same spot as last year, it was a little less nerve-wracking because we knew the stadium, the area and the crowd.”
Liliana Luis threw a complete game allowing two earned runs on three hits with eight strikeouts and just two walks. Luis and Doster combined to topple Cranston East from the circle at Rhode Island College last year. It was Luis, the sophomore, that handled the work over 92 pitches on Sunday.
“It’s amazing having won two years in a row,” Doster, a senior, said. “Especially after my freshman year, we made an appearance here and we didn’t win. Coming back and doing it twice just felt so good.”
Doster could’ve took the circle and did in the winner’s-bracket final — the Tigers were just that deep again this season. They would’ve competed against the top teams in D-II as the Tigers only lost to Portsmouth, the third-ranked team in that league, by three runs. Tiverton also played well against Lincoln, the league’s winner, in a 9-3 defeat.
The needed promotion to D-II should come this offseason.
“I’m so proud of everyone on the team,” Luis said. “I’m so proud of myself and I’m thankful for the coaches for helping us do what we do. Hopefully, next year we will do the same in a different division. I think that we have a lot of potential next year and most of our team is going to be the same.”
Lucy Stearns started the second inning by reaching on an error and then took second in the same sequence. The freshman advanced to third on a ground out and then scored the game’s first run on Doster’s double to center.
The Tigers added two more in the third frame after starting with consecutive walks. Stearns provided the big hit, a two-out, two-RBI single to left field that scored Sarah Poland and Carlie Martin.
“At the beginning [of the season] the competition was kind of lower and we beat every team,” Brooke Sowa said. “But towards the end of the season we really started to face some more rigorous competition and it feels good to win.”
Rogers gave its best upset bid by cutting the deficit to 3-2 on Emma Brown’s double in the fifth inning. But Tiverton wasn’t going to let the season slip away. The Tigers responded in the sixth frame with a single to the right side and pushed the lead to 4-2 on consecutive errors. Martin capped the sequence, and the game, on an RBI single that scored Sowa.
“Honestly, these last two years are some of the best times of my life,” Luis said. “I built a bond with everybody on the team and it’s helped to make this so much more fun than just playing softball.”
Rogers reached the title round for just the third time in its history. The Vikings improved their win total by four games and should be competitive next year with only five seniors graduating.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Final score of the RIIL D-III championship between Tiverton and Rogers