The best softball team in Rhode Island is beatable.

It just takes the best team in Massachusetts to do it.

Saturday was as good as it gets for local softball as La Salle, the two-time defending Rhode Island state champ, hosted Taunton, the four-time Massachusetts state champion. The Rams struck first, but came apart in the sixth and the Tigers took advantage to pull out the 7-4 win.

Both teams are favored to win state titles in their respective states this spring and both arrived at Brown University with impressive win streaks. Taunton’s last loss came on May 22, 2023, a 1-0 defeat at the hands of rival King Philip. La Salle’s last defeat came almost one month earlier, an 8-5 loss to Cranston West on April 24, 2023. Something had to give.

The Rams wasted no time in getting on the board first and it wasn’t a surprise to see how it happened. Phoenyx Silva, the three-time All-Stater headed to the University of Iowa to play next spring, got caught behind 1-2 in the count, kept the at-bat going, then hit a ball to the moon, a solo homer to make it 1-0 after the first inning.

Taunton miscues helped La Salle add to the lead in the third. Leading off the third, Samantha Sell was drilled by Tiger starter Catherine Larson and after a groundout, Alivia Barry reached on a misplayed ball by second baseman Madison Crowley.

Diana Hall followed with a single and that Silva managed to score on. Lily Roumelis followed with a groundout that made it 3-0.

The lead looked safe. Through five innings, La Salle starter Hailey Vigneau was cooking the Tigers. Outside of a one-out triple in the first inning – which Vigneau escaped from after getting two soft pop-outs to end the inning – Taunton struggled to do much with anything Vigneau had to offer. After the triple by Mia Torres, Vigneau retired 14 of the next 16 Taunton hitters.

Things changed drastically in the sixth.

A bloop single by Corraro got things started. Torres followed with an infield single and Bella Bourque’s fly ball to center was misread, booted, and wasn’t picked up, allowing two runs to score.

Bailey followed with a single to left on another misread ball and after an out, Larson drew a walk and a single by Gracie Oliveira loaded the bases. Ashlyn Hebert hit a hard grounder to third that Silva fielded cleanly and fired home, but Samantha Sell couldn’t come up with the play at the plate and Bailey came in with the go-ahead run.

Vigneau followed with a huge strikeout, but Victoria Corraro ripped a triple to left field that cleared the bases to make it 7-3.

La Salle tried to rally in the bottom half, but Kayleigh Ventura’s leadoff single was erased on a double play on a nice snag by Oliveira, who stepped on the bag for the second out. Kershaw followed with a triple and Vigneau hit a single to bring her in, but the scoring stopped there for La Salle.

Larson was at her best when Taunton needed her most. Facing the top of the La Salle order – Alivia Ring, Silva and Diana Hall – Larson induced a groundout, a soft liner and a groundout that ended the game. Larson finished the day spreading out seven hits over seven innings while giving up three earned runs and striking out five.

The loss will serve a fuel to La Salle’s fire as it finishes the regular season this week. Tuesday the Rams host Smithfield, a team that gave the Rams a scare in a 3-1 game on Opening Day, before closing the regular season at Pilgrim on Thursday.

La Salle has already secured the No. 1 seed for the upcoming Division I playoffs.