How do you know it's mid-May? When the Coventry softball team starts to play like a champion, it's usually a good indicator

COVENTRY — You don’t have to look at a calendar to know it’s midway through the season.

One look at how the Coventry softball team is playing does the trick.

The Oakers aren’t one of the best programs in Rhode Island by accident. The defending state champs have played in eight of the last 12 state championship finals, winning four titles. When it’s time to get serious about the game, now is about the time they do it.

Monday’s opponent was Chariho, a team with just one senior that’s going through the growing pains young teams usually experience. Coventry treated the game like it was a state final. Sparked by a home run off the bat of Ashley Klingberg, the Oakers’ offense exploded for a 14-0 win, making Coventry look as playoff-ready as any team in the state.

“It’s totally what we expect,” senior All-Stater Hannah Hawley said. “Every year Coventry is definitely a front runner and I think we’re all confident in that. But it’s also important to know where we’re at right now and just take the pressure and take it in a positive way.”

“I’m ready to take anyone’s head off that steps in front of me,” Klingberg said. “I’m ready to run through anybody.

“Respectfully.”

Coventry has learned what happens when you don’t respect a team.

The Oakers lost to Smithfield in 13 innings in their fourth game of the season and followed that with a loss to Pilgrim.

It’s been one month, but Coventry hasn’t lost since. The Oakers have won blowouts, come away with tough wins and have won a couple of nailbiters. That loss to Smithfield didn’t help the team in the standings but helped as they set out to defend their state title.

“The one thing we got was we play down to other people’s levels, so that’s the thing we’ve really been focusing on since that game,” Klingberg said. “We want to take everything seriously. We don’t want to take any team lightly.”

Monday's game was the perfect example. Coventry came out swinging, with an RBI double by Abby Choquette and an RBI single by Samantha Bergantino that made it 2-0 after the first inning. Klingberg opened the bottom of the second with a bomb to center field, igniting a four-run inning.

“I had my head down, I was running, just running for my life,” said Klingberg, who had three RBI in the win, including her first career home run. “My first base coach was like ‘it’s out, it’s out.’ ”

The young Chargers made mistakes in the field and the Coventry offense took advantage. Errors led to three unearned runs in that second inning, a misplayed ball led to an inside-the-park home run for Choquette in the fourth.

With freshman Sage Soares dealing — she threw three no-hit innings before being removed in the blowout — the runs weren’t necessary. But the Oakers kept attacking at the plate like they were. Their reserves maintained the same mentality and they were as excited for Celia Cairo’s RBI groundout as they were for Klingberg’s homer.

“We’re not getting ahead of ourselves. We’re not giving other people credit where it’s not due,” Hawley said. “We’re just focused on what we need to do and getting the job done every day.”

“We all work hard. We all want to win. We all do whatever it takes,” Klingberg said. “I know Hannah, the last game she was out here still hitting and I know we all put in the extra work.

“That’s what it’s about — not only at practice but after practice and before practice, what are you doing?”

Soares and reliever Emily Cronin also managed to do something other teams have struggled with — keeping Chariho slugger Ava Rao from leaving the park.

The Chargers’ senior has been a highlight in what’s been a tough season for the young team. Rao ripped three home runs in a win over South Kingstown and has continued to mash as she currently sits at eight home runs, one away from the Chariho school record.

“I don’t expect to hit home runs, it just kind of happens,” said Rao, who was 0-for-2 on Monday. “I just want hits, but home runs are definitely something.”

“Hitting the gritty, coming into home plate with all the girls there — it feels really good when it happens and I know they’re all there for me.”

Chariho (3-12 Division I-South) will be on the outside of the playoff picture, but how it attacks the final three games of the year will define its season. Rao, who’s embraced her leadership role, is looking forward to finishing the season with a bang — or two, in order to get the school record and a couple more Chargers’ victories.

“Just finish strong,” said Rao of the team’s goals. “We’ve created such a close bond with one another, hanging out outside of the field and hopefully we’ll get a couple more wins.”

Coventry (12-2 DI-South) is hoping for a little more. The Oakers’ next D-I game will be a big one, hosting Pilgrim on Saturday in a game that will be crucial to playoff seeding.

Win or lose, Coventry will approach it the same way it’s approached every game this season and will continue to approach games once the playoffs begin. There will be pressure, but the Oakers are ready for it.

“It’s pure excitement. This is what we thrive on,” Hawley said. “Every year we seem to be an underdog. We’ll lose the first game in bracket play or in the final series and then the next thing you know we come back.

“This is the pressure that we need. It gets us riled up and gets us ready to go.”

“We compete with everything,” Klingberg said. “I say we go all the way if we compete like we’re supposed to.”

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Defending state champ Coventry takes down Chariho in Division I softball