By ERIC BENEVIDES

Sports writer

PROVIDENCE --- It’s awfully tough to top a pair of two-hitters in the state tournament, but Cumberland High sophomore Bethany Paul found a way to do so on Thursday night.
Paul carried a perfect-game bid into the seventh inning before finishing the night with a spectacular one-hitter that included 10 strikeouts and a stellar 5-0 triumph over North Kingstown High in their Division I losers’ bracket final at Rhode Island College.
The fourth-seeded Clippers will now turn their attention to trying to capture the first fast-pitch championship in team history this weekend. Cumberland had been to the finals three times, but lost in 1998 and 2000 to St. Raphael Academy and ’01 to North Providence High.
But in order to win that title, they will have to top winners’ bracket survivor and sixth-seed Coventry High twice, starting with Saturday’s 4 p.m. contest back at RIC. A win by the Clippers will set up a winner-take-all showdown on Sunday at either 2 or 4 p.m.
“Coventry’s obviously a good team because they’re still here,” Cumberland coach Marty Crowley remarked. “It’s going to be a challenge, but we’re not worried about winning two games. We’re just worried about coming to play the first game and seeing what happens.”
The Oakers notched a 5-4 triumph over the Clippers in their regular-season meeting in Coventry, a game that saw the Clippers take a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning, only to watch their hosts come back, turn an unusual 4-3-5 triple play in the top of the seventh inning, and eventually win the contest on a walkoff two-out, two-run double by Hannah Cole. 
“They’re a very good hitting team,” said Crowley. “We thought we had them when we faced them, but they took the game from us in the last inning.”
The Clippers mercy-ruled the eighth-seeded Skippers, 14-4, in their regular-season meeting on May 19 at Ryan Park by scoring nine runs in one inning with the help of five miscues, but N.K. turned the tables on Cumberland in their winners’ bracket semifinal-round game on Sunday, storming out to a 3-1 lead and holding off for a 4-3 victory.
But the third meeting was a different story, as the Clippers stormed out to a quick 4-0 command in the bottom of the first inning off N.K. starter Kelly Stevens and rode Paul’s brilliant pitching the rest of the way.
“Our kids were a little more focused this time,” added Crowley. “We never take anyone lightly, but we ten-runned then a couple of weeks ago and I’m not sure if the kids were mentally ready (on Sunday) because of that game.”
The story of this game -- and the playoffs -- has been the masterpieces Paul has delivered in the postseason. On Monday, Paul tossed a two-hit shutout with 10 strikeouts in the Clippers’ 2-0 victory over Bay View Academy, and two days earlier, she fired another two-hitter in a 7-1 win over Lincoln High that included 11 whiffs.
“Each game she’s getting better and better,” said Crowley. “In the playoffs, she’s been lights out, and we’re fortunate to have her. She’s pitching really well and she‘s hitting her spots.”
Casey McDonald got the Clippers’ assault off and running in the first with a bunt single that died in the dirt, and after she moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Lyndsey Martins, Paul -- who knocked in three runs in their regular-season meeting -- was intentionally walked.
After a passed ball by catcher Megan McHugh advanced both runners into scoring position, Marissa Speroni knocked in McDonald with a sharp single that deflected off Stevens’ glove and went toward second baseman Maddie Grimaldi. She quickly scooped up the ball and fired it home, but her throw was too late to nab the speedy McDonald.
The Clippers then loaded the bases on an infield miscue on Kailee Collins’ grounder and kept them full when Krissy Peffer doubled her team’s lead by driving in Paul with a line single to left.
A fielder’s choice grounder from Ashley Noke cut down Speroni at the plate for the second out, but a wild pitch by Stevens allowed Collins to race home with the Clippers’ third run and Peffer made it a 4-0 game when she scored on another infield error.
“That (inning) was huge,” said Crowley. “We put the ball in play, and when you can do that, good things happen.”
The Clippers almost added one or two more runs when the next batter, No. 9 batter Kelsey Cahill, smacked a long drive to the gap in left-center field. But center fielder Allison Rivelli reeled in it and halted the rally with a tumbling over-the-shoulder grab.   
Stevens’ night was done two batters into the second, as McDonald bashed the first pitch she saw deep into the gap in right-center for a standup triple and Martins drove her home two pitches later with a hard ground single to left.
N.K. coach Rick Powell gave her the hook in favor of Caitlyn Sugrue, who proceeded to retire the side and faced the minimum 12 batters over the next four innings, but her splendid effort was too little, too late.
Paul, meanwhile, struck out the side in two innings and quietly worked on her perfect-game bid, but lost it with one gone in the seventh on a throwing error by Noke at third base, who fielded a slow grounder, but threw the ball wide of the bag and pulled Martins, the first baseman, off the bag.
The next batter, Rivelli, then slapped an opposite-field single to left to foil the no-hit bid, but Paul came back to strike out the next two batters to end the game and punch the Clippers’ ticket to the finals.
***
North Kingstown        000    000    0--0-1-2
Cumberland        410    000    0--5-5-1
Kelly Stevens, Caitlyn Sugrue (2) and Megan McHugh; Bethany Paul and Krissy Peffer. 3B -- Casey McDonald (C).