Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 BEVERLY, Mass.â€"The underdog fifth-seeded Western New England University softball team earned its third consecutive shutout while facing elimination in each contest to reach the Commonwealth Coast Conference championship round on Saturday, but top-seed Endicott College had to hold off a pesky Golden Bears squad in 12 innings, 7-6, to claim the title at the Endicott Gulls Softball Complex.

The Golden Bears, who defeated No. 2 Salve Regina University, 5-0, earlier in the day for the right to play Endicott in the final round, end their season at 23-18 after beating three higher seeded teams by a combined 17-3 score. The Gulls, meanwhile, claim their 10th CCC title and receive the conference's automatic berth to the NCAA Division III Softball Championship that gets under way May 9-11 at a regional site to be determined.

In the five-run victory over the Seahawks, freshman Gabby Lavinio and senior tri-captain Maria Francese paced Western New England's 13-hit attack with three apiece. Sophomores Alexis Bukowski and Heather Fecteau each chipped in two hits.

Sophomore Heidi Grieger (11-8) picked up the win, allowing just four singles in going the distance. She finished the season after leading the team with career highs of 11 victories and a 1.62 earned-run average, bettering her freshman marks of three triumphs and 3.95 ERA. Grieger ranks third in both conference ERA and wins.

Lavinio gave Grieger and her teammates all the runs the Golden Bears would need with a two-run single up the middle in the top of the fourth inning. The Golden Bears added three more runs later in the frame as Francese had a RBI-double to left-center field and junior Emily Mastropaolo closed with a single to left to bring in two runs.

During the regular season, Salve had pinned two one-run games, and both in extra innings, on WNE back on April 12; 6-5 in 9 and 2-1 in 8.

Sophomore Sam DiBella cranked a 12th-inning double to right center to send freshman Rachel Couto, who ripped a leadoff double, home to clinch the CCC championship win for Endicott and the program's first title since the 2011.

Western New England, which outhit the Gulls by a 17-16 edge, was led by Francese's five hits. Senior tri-captain Katie Eckert and Mastropaolo both had three hits and two RBI apiece. Francese finishes 2014 with 60, pushing her career total to 214 hits to rank in the top-3 in WNE annals.

Jesse Bilafer led Endicott with a 4-for-6, 2-run, 3-RBI performance at the plate. Chrissy Gikas went 3-for-5 and Jaime Corda added two hits and two RBI.

The Golden Bears made the game interesting in the top of the seventh as they tallied three runs off a pair of doubles by Mastropaolo and Eckert to take a one run lead, 6-5.

Western New England needed to tab three outs in the bottom half to hand Endicott a loss and force an elimination championship game, but the Blue and Green would not give it up easily. With one out to go, Couto blasted a double to center field to deliver the game-tying run by sophomore Emily Hoffman to force extra-innings with the game tied 6-6.

Western New England got on the board first in the top of the first inning as Eckert singled through the left side to send Fecteau around the bases. The lead would not last for long as Corda answered back in the bottom of the first with a two-run homer to left center.

The Blue and Green extended their early advantage in the bottom of the second as Bilafer blasted a three-run homer to left to put Endicott ahead 5-1. After three scoreless innings by both sides, Western New England added two to the scoreboard on an error and RBI-groundout by Bukowski to cut the lead down to two in the top of the sixth.