Warwick Vets had pulled off a comeback in the bottom of the seventh inning, with its back against the wall down three runs, seemingly shifting momentum its way.

Then, Woonsocket’s bats came alive. The Villa Novans pushed across six runs in the top of the eighth, nearly the same amount they had in the first seven, to defeat the ’Canes, 13-7, in the winners’ bracket final at Rhode Island College.

Abbie Roderick, Holly Letourneau and captain Brittany Girard combined to score six of Woonsocket’s nine runs in the final two innings, dealing decisive blows to Vets freshman pitcher Caitlyn Fallon.

“In the eighth, they started hitting her,” Vets manager Paul Kennedy said. “I’m not mad about the eighth inning, I’m mad about everything that happened in the first seven. We did not deserve this game. We played a very bad game, and that’s not our style. We gave away runs, we gave away baserunners.”

The game was tied at 4 entering the final frame, and Woonsocket looked to put itself ahead for good as the top of the order caught fire. Roderick lined a single into right field with one out, and she reached second as Letourneau got aboard on an error at shortstop. Girard followed with an RBI bloop single to give the Novans a 5-4 lead.

Madison Hereth broke it open after she crushed a two-run double off the top of the left field wall to plate Letourneau and Girard.

The ’Canes had last at-bats down three runs, but it was the right part of the lineup due up. Kayla Morin reached second base on an error in right field to lead things off, but she would end up getting picked off with Alexis LeBelle on first.

Vets was shaken by the pickoff, but it didn’t stop its bid to tie the game. Natasha Savage, who was 3-for-4 on the day, lined a single into left field and Michelle Spremulli worked a walk on a full count to load the bases. Fallon strolled to the plate with one out and nowhere to go, looking to help her own cause.

She did so, blasting a line drive into left field that rolled under the left fielder’s glove. The miscue allowed Savage to scamper home all the way from first, tying the game.

Pinch runner Mariana Brawn represented the winning run at second, but she would get doubled up on a hit-and-run when Arietta Chevian lined out to Letourneau at shortstop.

Woonsocket pushed across the lead run quickly in the eighth, as the international rule put Katyanna Colburn at second base to start the inning. Fallon struck out Jeovonna Barnwell to begin the inning, and it looked like Madison Mitchell-Laplante would be out No. 2 when she softly grounded the ball to the circle. Fallon slightly overthrew first base, though, and Colburn came around to score.

After a sacrifice bunt that put Mitchell-Laplante at third, Kennedy opted to intentionally walk Roderick, who had reached base and scored three times to that point. Letourneau stepped in with three RBIs so far, and she would double that total when Fallon left a pitch up on a full count. The freshman shortstop went over the right field wall to increase the Novans’ lead to 11-7.

An RBI double from Hereth and a passed ball would tack on two more runs, building the lead to 13-7 heading into the home half of the eighth. Fallon stayed in until the final out, and she made a diving play to her left to end the inning.

“It was an incredible catch,” Kennedy said. “She landed right on the belt buckle. It was an incredible play. She’s a heck of an athlete. It’s just too bad they hit the ball real hard that inning. In that inning, I think they were earned, maybe all of them were. They hit the ball. It’s too bad it got to that point.”

The ’Canes went quietly as the deficit was too much to answer.

In the early going, errors allowed Woonsocket to jump ahead early. Both runs in the first were unearned as Roderick reached on a miscue at short, and Letourneau would later score as a ground ball got through LeBelle’s legs at third.

Vets would tie the score at 2 in the bottom of the first, led by RBI hits off the bats of Savage and Fallon, but the Novans would strike again in the second. A 2-RBI single from Letourneau provided Woonsocket with another two-run lead.

Vets slowly chipped away, getting a run back in the third after Savage’s RBI bloop single. The ’Canes had runners at first and second with no outs at that point, but Spremulli lined into a 5-4 double play. Fallon’s ground out would strand Savage at first.

LeBelle began a fifth-inning rally with a one-out walk. Woonsocket hurler Lundyn Forcier was able to strike out Savage looking, and induced a soft pop fly from Spremulli that appeared to end the inning. Letourneau ranged back to catch the pop-up, but it eluded her glove and she kicked it into deep left field. LeBelle scored all the way from first to knot the score at 4, setting the stage for a dramatic, late-innings finish.

Vets looks to stay alive in the losers’ bracket final against Moses Brown on Friday at 5 p.m. at RIC. In their only meeting this year, the ’Canes edged the Quakers, 3-2, on April 27. The winner of this game will go on to face Woonsocket with the unenviable task of having to beat the Novans twice to win the state title.

“I’d love to get them again,” Kennedy said of Woonsocket. “They’re a very good team. There is no question at all, the better team won today. I’d love to get another chance at them.”