PAWTUCKET — Olivia Williams will bid for a third consecutive title and three fellow finalists will be in search of their first entering the last day of the 105th Rhode Island Junior Amateur. 

Lily Dessel, Jesse Hellring and Brayden Dickinson all hope to join the party at Pawtucket Country Club. Thursday’s semifinals saw the top two seeds advance for the girls and the upsets continue for the boys. 

More: More drama at the Rhode Island Junior Amateur quarterfinal match play. Here’s what happened.

Williams rallied past Adriana Eaton, 3 and 2, while Dessel won the first two holes on each side to beat Claire McTaggart, 2 up. Hellring won the 16th and 17th holes to top Rocco Capalbo, 3 and 1, while Dickinson survived the final two holes to outlast Ian Dunham, 1 up. 

Eaton won the first two holes and three of the first six to hold a 2-up lead before Williams kicked into gear. She made par to take the seventh and birdie to capture the ninth, pulling level at the turn. Williams won four of five holes between the 12th and 16th to close it out, bracketing that stretch with two more birdies. 

“I started to come back toward the end of the front nine and I went up on the beginning of the back nine,” Williams said to the Rhode Island Golf Association. “I was just trying to stay focused, play my game and take one shot at a time.” 

Williams could see Eaton again next week at the Women’s Amateur. They’ve played for the state’s biggest prizes in recent years, including a meeting in last year’s final and a matchup in the Junior Amateur semifinals. Both are Interscholastic League stars at La Salle Academy and Moses Brown, respectively. 

“She’s very good,” Williams said. “It was a tough match today. We definitely have a lot of fun when we play together.” 

Dessel reached the quarterfinals in her 2021 debut at this event and has improved her game steadily since then. She never trailed against McTaggart but couldn’t build more than a 2-up lead against her Barrington High teammate and fellow Rhode Island Country Club member. Dessel won the 18th with a routine par to book a spot in her first final. 

“It took me a while today to figure out the speed of the greens,” Dessel said. “It was definitely faster than the past couple of days. Once I got that going, I was kind of steady for the rest of the match.” 

Hellring’s bogey was good enough to win the par-4 11th, and he carried a 1-up lead to the 16th after halving six of the previous seven. Two straight pars were enough to slip past Capalbo, the reigning Interscholastic League champion who’s fresh off a strong debut at Prout. Hellring avoided the 18th hole for second time in three matches, playing it only during a 1-up win over Joey Iaciofano in the Round of 16. 

“Winning this would be great,” Hellring said. “What you get as well — going to the U.S. Junior [Amateur] would be awesome.” 

Dickinson was one of the last players to reach match play as the No. 15 seed and has made the most of his chance. He lost the 16th hole with a bogey to trail late, but that’s a minor inconvenience at this point for the North Kingstown standout. Dickinson was sidelined for the end of spring and beginning of summer after suffering an ankle injury in physical education class at school — he’s just now rounding back into form. 

“It really put into perspective how much this game means to me, how much I really just love coming out here and competing with the guys and putting together a good score,” Dickinson said. “It was a tough couple months.” 

Hellring and Dickinson will open their finals match at 7:30 a.m. Williams and Dessel will have the tee eight minutes later. Two other matches also will go off in the boys first division and boys 14U — Connor Ahlborg and Conner Rabbitt in the first, Aidan Connell and Raj Mammen in the second. 

Boys championship 

Jesse Hellring def. Rocco Capalbo, 3 and 1; Brayden Dickinson def. Ian Dunham, 1 up. 

Girls championship 

Olivia Williams def. Adriana Eaton, 3 and 2; Lily Dessel def. Claire McTaggart, 2 up. 

Boys first division 

Connor Ahlborg def. Luke Cavanaugh, 3 and 1; Conner Rabbitt def. Zachary Taraian, 2 and 1. 

Boys 14U 

Aidan Connell def. Mitch McTaggart, 3 and 2; Raj Mammen def. Nico Capalbo, 4 and 3. 

bkoch@providencejournal.com

On X: @BillKoch25