The Tiverton softball team held off defending champion Cranston East 4-3 in a pivotal Division III matchup on Monday afternoon.

The Tigers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning and led 4-2 in the sixth. Although the Bolts managed to score and run and put two runners on base, the Tigers managed to escape the jam, then would escape in the seventh to hold onto the win.

Gianna Tocci drove in a run while Nevaeh Fatorma, Jaeda Viveiros and Alice Billings all scored. Cydnee Meekins finished the day with two hits. Lexi Montalban tossed six innings in the circle for East and allowed just one earned run while striking out six Tiverton batters. 

The Bolts held on to fourth place in Division III despite the loss as Tiverton sat in second.

The Bolts rolled past Juanita Sanchez 19-0 the previous game.

Meekins went 3-for-4 at the plate with four RBI, while Montalban also drove in four runs as well. Leanna Garcia and Fatorma had multi-RBI outings, and Montalban got the three-inning win and struck out seven batters. 

East was slated to take on Division II Barrington on Wednesday, but the results were unavailable at press time. 

The Division III playoffs are set to begin this weekend and Davies sat in first place as of Tuesday morning. The team’s lone loss came to East earlier this spring.

The Bolts sat in fourth place with a 12-3 record. East picked up some key DIII wins over teams including Classical, Rogers and Central. It lost twice to Tiverton while also taking a loss to Davies.