NEWPORT, R.I. — The University of New England softball team played as one, and as one, the Nor’easters are champions.

By defeating Salve Regina 3-2 on Saturday at Toppa Field, the Nor’easters captured the Commonwealth Coast Conference championship and an automatic berth into the NCAA Division III Tournament. UNE was scheduled to find out Monday morning which team it will play in the first round, scheduled to start Thursday.

“We’re just going to keep competing one (game) at a time,” said UNE head coach Dan Letellier, who won his first CCC title in his third year at the helm. “This is all a bonus. Hopefully it keeps going.”

The Nor’easters were among the favorites to play in the title game before the season started. While bumps in the road have come and gone, UNE has a 26-12 record this season.

“It’s a long season, but we kept our eye on the prize with a microscope, periscope mentality,” Letellier said. “A periscope to look far away at what the big picture is, and a microscope to see what’s right in front of us.”

UNE was forced to wait and find out its opponent on game day, as the championship play-in game took place before, with Salve defeating Endicott College. The Nor’easters stayed loose by warming up on an adjoining softball field. Before the game, Letellier had the group huddle in right field.

“He was just telling (us) that we worked all season for this, and this is what we wanted,” UNE catcher Ashley Gott said. “We deserve it. We worked hard all season, and this is our game.”

The Nor’easters jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first. Gott, the leadoff hitter, smacked a triple to center field, before she was plated two batters later by Erin Grover, thanks to an RBI ground out.

UNE added two more runs in the fourth inning. After back-to-back singles by Gabrielle LaRoche and Maegen Johnson, Adrienne Chase smacked a two-run double to right field to lift the lead to 3-0. Chase led all UNE hitters in the contest, going 2 for 3 at the plate with two RBIs.

The lead seemed to be more than enough for Nor’easters pitcher Kelly Reid. The first-year phenom out of Nantucket, Mass., who had a 0.33 ERA in the tournament leading up to the title game, allowed two hits in her first five innings of work. But the Seahawks did not go away quietly. Salve scored two runs in the sixth, collecting four hits. The runs were scored on an RBI single by Marissa Simpson and a sacrifice fly by Jillian Quintana. Reid was able to pitch out of her jam, inducing a ground-ball out from Megan Jakiela to finish the inning.

While the sixth inning may have been full of drama, the seventh inning was anything but. Reid made Zeena Babarita and Kristen Parolise each pop out to shortstop Amanda Vaudreuil. The final out of the game came off the bat of pitcher Jen Cruver, who hit a weak ground ball down the first base line to UNE first baseman Jessica Potter, who promptly stepped on the bag to start the championship celebration.

“There was one second where I was going ”˜Oh crap,’” Reid said. “Then I just took some deep breaths, know that I can do it and just tell myself that I can do it.”

Reid allowed two runs on six hits, striking out two batters during the contest.

Leading the Seahawks offensively was second baseman Jennifer Edine, who went 2 for 3 at the plate.

— Contact Dave Dyer at 282-1535, Ext. 323.