By BRANDEN MELLO

RISN sports writer

 PROVIDENCE — They were behind by three runs and they were down to their last two outs of the season. The Cumberland High softball team certainly wasn’t in an enviable situation in Saturday’s Division I title game against Coventry.
But, the Clippers’ run to the state title game was all about coming back from impossible situations.
Ashley Noke, Lauren Sloss and Kelsey Cahill all singled with one out in the ninth inning to cut the Clippers’ deficit to just one with lead-off hitter Casey McDonald due up. But, that’s where the story ended for the No. 4 Clippers, because McDonald lined into a double play as the No. 6 Oakers won their first D-I title with a 4-3 victory.
“I’m extremely proud of my kids, as I have been all year,” Cumberland coach Marty Crawley said. “We had a heck of a week because every game we’ve played has been an elimination game. To get to this point is a big accomplishment for these kids. They should hold their heads up high.”
Beth Paul took the loss after allowing just four hits in her nine innings of work. It was Paul’s first loss of the playoffs, but it might have been her best performance. The Oakers came into the game averaging 7.5 runs a game in the playoffs and the sophomore held them to just one through eight innings.
Paul struck out five of the first nine batters she faced and, for the second straight playoff game, she had a no-hitter going into the sixth inning. Paul finished the game with 11 strikeouts and no walks.
“She couldn’t do any more than she did,” Crawley said of his sophomore, who won three straight elimination games prior to Saturday. “She’s had an outstanding week. She had the hot hand, so we decided to go with her. She kept us in every single game she pitched. Outstanding, that’s all you can say.”  
Cumberland’s only offense prior to extra innings came in the third inning when Cahill, after falling behind 0-2, worked a walk off Coventry pitcher Elise Fortier. With two outs, Lyndsey Martins singled and Paul followed with a single to score Cahill. Cumberland finished the game with nine hits, led by Sloss’s 3-for-4 performance.
The Cumberland lead lasted into the sixth inning, when, with two outs, Coventry junior shortstop Katelyn Carroll turned on an inside fastball from Paul and hit a home run down the left-field line.
“I pretty much bared down, tried to make some contact. I wasn’t expecting that,” Carroll said of the game-tying hit. “It was an inside pitch, but I had been crowding the plate so I just turned on it.”
Cumberland had the game-winning run in the guise of pinch runner Kayleigh Martins at third base in the bottom of the seventh inning. But, Fortier struck out Cahill to end the inning.
The Clippers, who stranded seven runners in the three innings, loaded the bases with one out in the eighth inning after Coventry intentionally walked Lyndsey Martins and Paul. But, Christina Speroni grounded into a fielder’s choice and Kailee Collins grounded out to end the inning.
Coventry, thanks to an error with Carroll at the plate, exploded for three runs in the top of the ninth. Carroll, Fortier and Ashley Olson all recorded an RBI in the inning.
Cumberland responded with two runs in the bottom of the ninth, but McDonald’s line out to Hannah Cole at second was the Clippers’ nadir. Lyndsey Martins, who brilliantly pitcher the Clippers to the playoffs, and McDonald graduate from a team that should contend again in 2010.
“Casey and Lyndsey have led this team and they’ve both picked up their games in the last month,” Crawley said. “They’re a big reason why we were here today.”    
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Coventry    000    001    003 – 4 4 1
Cumberland    001    000    002 – 3 9 4
Fortier and Olson; Paul and Peffer. HR – C; Carroll.