The Warwick Vets softball team turned what could’ve been a stress-free victory into a nailbiter on Tuesday.

The ’Canes carried an 8-1 lead into the final inning of their Division II preliminary playoff game against Scituate, before the Spartans exploded for five runs in the seventh on four walks, two singles and a hit batsman.

Fortunately for Vets, Caitlyn Fallon would get Cassidy O’Neill to fly out to left field with the bases loaded to end the threat and the game, stranding the tying and go-ahead runs.

Although it wasn’t an ideal finish for Vets, it’s happy to be moving on to its first quarterfinal since 2010.

“We’ll take the W, but we have some things to work on,” Vets head coach Paul Kennedy said. “We can’t play like that in the next round, but we’ll take the W and now we’re in the double-elimination round, so we’ll go from here.”

The seventh-seeded Spartans raced out of the gate in the top of the first, as they rapidly gained a 1-0 lead.

Junior Emma Donatelli led things off with a single, and she would eventually come around to score on a ground out to second by Jane Owens.

That was the only lead that Scituate would hold in the game, though.

Vets’ offense responded with three runs of its own in the bottom half of the inning to take control of the scoreboard.

Kayla Morin led off the inning with a single, before advancing to second on a throwing error in the outfield.

And, after Morin advanced to third on an error in the infield, Natasha Savage brought her home with a single to tie the game at 1.

Michelle Spremulli and Fallon followed with RBI groundouts to plate Alexis LeBelle and Savage to push Vets in front for good, 3-1.

Kennedy was pleased with his team’s response after Scituate came out strong with an early run.

“The run they got in the first was unearned, and then we came back strong,” Kennedy said. “They made some mistakes, but we jumped on every one of them. I think over the first three batters they had made three mistakes and we jumped on them, so it was good to see.”

The Spartans threatened in the second too, but Fallon buckled down with two outs and the bases loaded, as she got O’Neill to hit a lazy fly ball to Arietta Chevian in right to escape the jam unscathed.

“In the second inning, they had the bases loaded and could’ve gotten a little bit closer, but we stranded them,” Kennedy said.

That was critical because Vets would bat through its order and tack on four runs in the bottom of the third.

Much like the first inning, Morin got the inning started with a single, and LeBelle advanced Morin to third when she reached safely on an error at shortstop.

That set up Savage to hit her second RBI single in as many at-bats, as she ripped a grounder through the infield to plate Morin.

Spremulli then delivered the biggest hit of the inning when she laced one into the left center field gap for a triple, bringing home LeBelle and Savage to increase Vets’ lead to 6-1.

Vets wasn’t done there either.

A couple of pitches later, Fallon drove in her second run of the game with an infield single that allowed Spremulli to slide safely into home for a 7-1 lead.

The bats then went silent for the next inning and a half, but the ’Canes were able to manufacture another run in the fifth, thanks in large part to some Scituate miscues.

Destinee Charette reached safely on an error at first with two down in the inning.

The speedy sophomore proceeded to steal second, and raced home on another error at first base a few pitches later to up Vets’ lead to 8-1.

That run margin seemed to be more than enough for Vets, but Fallon encountered some control issues after taking a line drive off of her pitching hand, allowing Scituate to mount a late rally.

Fallon retired the first batter in the seventh with relative ease, before hitting O’Neill with a pitch and walking Tricia Stuard.

An RBI single from Owens scored O’Neill, and Francesca Iaciofano drew a bases-loaded walk two batters later to trim the Spartans’ deficit to 8-3.

RBI singles from Shanon Vanner and Donatelli allowed Scituate to score two more, and an infield error scored Iaciofano from third with two outs to make it 8-6.

But, with two outs, Fallon recorded her most important out of the day.

With the bases loaded, O’Neill popped up a pitch to shallow left and freshman Mallorie Link was able to run it down for the final out.

“She was strong until the end,” Kennedy said of Fallon. “I think the heat may have gotten to her. She started missing the plate – there were some that were high, but others were close. I have a little concern with her finger, the ball that came back at her hit her thumb. We’ll have her ice it, I don’t know if that affected the grip.”

The ’Canes will now face a stiffer test in the quarterfinals, as they’ll host Cranston East today at 4 p.m.

The ’Bolts earned their quarterfinal berth with a 6-5 victory over Prout on Tuesday.

Kennedy knows that his club will have to be sharper against a tougher opponent.

“Cranston East, we saw them in a non-league game, and they’re strong,” Kennedy said. “Either way, it’s going to be a tough game. Obviously, we’re not looking past anyone. The nice thing is that we’ll play right here on our field, we earned that with our regular season.”