PORTSMOUTH — The Portsmouth High softball team won seven in a row before entering the Division II state championship tournament. 

Then they won two more, as the No. 5-seeded Patriots beat Scituate on May 29, 8-4, before shutting out the No. 1 seed, Johnston, 5-0 on June 1 for their ninth straight win.

Portsmouth ran into a tough No. 2-seeded Ponaganset Chiefs team on Sunday, however, which ended the Patriots’ winning streak with a convincing 10-3 victory at Rhode Island College. 

The Patriots are still alive, however. They’ll play again in the losers’ bracket on Thursday, June 6, at 6 p.m. at RIC against either Westerly or West Warwick. If they win, they’ll get another crack at Ponaganset in the championship game on Saturday, June 8, at 2 p.m.

Portsmouth’s next game was originally scheduled for Wednesday of this week, but that’s Senior Prom night. Likewise, the championship game was originally going to be played Friday, but PHS has its graduation ceremony then.

On Sunday, the Patriots got off to a good start as starting pitcher Mary Rainey struck out the side in the bottom of the first inning, and then Mia Ruggieri drove in a run with the bases loaded in the second inning.

That would be the only lead for Portsmouth, however. The Chiefs scored four runs the bottom of the third and piled it on in the next inning with six more runners crossing home plate to make it 10-1.

The Patriots tacked on two runs in the top of the fifth, thanks in part to a big double by Barbara Rainey which put runners at second and third with no outs. A grounder by Kaelyn Mahoney scored one run, and Ruggieri drove in another. 

Portsmouth had six hits and four errors to go along with its three runs. Ponaganset finished with 10 runs on 10 hits, and two errors.