TURNERS FALLS — The last two rounds of the Division 5 state softball tournament have pushed Turners Falls, and pushed hard at times, but the defending state champions always seem to come through with the needed counterpunch on their drive for another title.

In Sunday evening's quarterfinal, Turners put up a run right out of the gate, fell behind Narragansett 3-1, rallied to tie and then kicked down the door with a three-run fifth inning, the eventual final margin in the Thunder's 6-3 victory at Gary Mullins Field.

Turners, the top seed, improved to 20-4 and advanced to the state semifinal with a rematch of the 2024 championship against fourth-seeded Georgetown (20-3) on Wednesday at 5 p.m. at UMass-Lowell. The Thunder blanked the Royals 5-0 in last year's title game.

“We had two outs, nobody on, and those three runs were huge,” said coach Gary Mullins of the decisive fifth inning. “That was very helpful. In this game, you make a mistake, and all of a sudden ... We found a way to come back and battle, and we'll take it.”

Narragansett pitcher Cassidy Paradis got the first two outs in the home fifth, including a groundout to short by her Turners counterpart, Madi Liimatainen, who appeared to tweak her lower back while hitting the first-base bag. But Marilyn Abarua singled to center and Janelle Massey lashed a double down the left-field line, plating Abarua with the lead run.

Massey moved up to third on the throw to the plate and came on to score on Autumn Thornton's ground ball to short, on which the throw to first base was bobbled. Madisyn Dietz then got a hold of one for a double to right-center, scoring Thornton with the third run of the inning.

If Liimatainen's back was bothering her, the results didn't show it, as she set down the Warriors in order in the top of the sixth. She then recorded two strikeouts to begin the seventh, her 12th and 13th of the day, before Lacey Beauregard doubled off the right-field fence for Narragansett's last gasp. Mia Manca then lined softly to Addy Talbot at second base for the final out.

“When we get behind, we know we have to work harder,” said Liimatainen. “Losing the lead gave us a little more focus and more discipline at the plate. Everybody that's made it to these rounds deserves to be here, and so do we. The teams we're playing want to beat us just as bad as we want to beat them, if not more. We're playing really well right now. The better competition makes us play better.”

Liimatainen allowed four hits Sunday with a walk and a hit batter.

In the bottom of the first inning, leadoff batter Mia Marigliano went after the first pitch she saw from Paradis and launched a triple to deep right field. After two out, Massey delivered an infield hit into the shortstop hole to score Marigliano for an immediate 1-0 lead.

Narragansett (15-6) went quietly in its first two at-bats, getting only a leadoff single from Gianna Manca in the second, but the Warriors changed all that in the third. Isabelle Leano was hit by a pitch and Olivia Hunt dropped an attempted sacrifice bunt but reached first. Liimatainen struck out Beauregard for the first out, but Mia Manca reached on an infield error to fill the bases and Paradis lined a single to left-center to score Leano and Hunt, moving up to second on the throw.

Mya MacKay kept it going with a bunt in front of the circle that was mishandled as Manca came across for a 3-1 Warrior lead. Samantha Boumil appeared to drive in another run for the visitors, but was ruled out on interference at first base to put a stop to the uprising.

Turners wasn't down for long, getting a one-out walk to Liimatainen in the home third followed by Abarua's single to right that sent Liimatainen over to third. Abarua stole second and Massey lifted a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Liimatainen. Thornton then powered a base hit to right-center to bring in Abarua with the tying run.

“They're not a bad club. They weren't afraid to take some chances,” said Mullins. “If Madi's throwing well, you'll see a few teams bunt a little bit more against her, trying to avoid the strikeout. You've got to beat good teams to win this thing. Generally speaking, you've got your top four teams (in the semifinals).”

Abarua and Massey each had two of the Thunder's nine hits.

The teams met in the Division 5 quarterfinals for the second straight year. Turners picked up an 11-4 win over Narragansett in last year's clash.

Georgetown advanced to the semifinal with a 4-3 win over Maynard on Saturday. The Royals withstood Maynard's three-run rally in the top of the seventh inning with the tying run left at third base.