LORETTO, Pa. – The LIU softball team took two huge wins Friday at the Northeast Conference tournament. Facing elimination, the Sharks beat Sacred Heart 3-2, and CCSU 9-7 to advance to Saturday's championship game. No.2 seed LIU will take on top seed and host Saint Francis U. Saturday at 12 p.m. The Sharks will need to beat the Red Flash twice to take the tournament title.

It will be LIU's 18th championship game appearance in the last 22 years.

 
#2 LIU 3, #4 Sacred Heart 2
 
In the first game of the day, both teams were in a must-win spot. The Pioneers jumped out to an early lead in the first inning, with a two-run homer. The Sharks didn't get a run on the board until the bottom of the second. Senior Katie Hinkle would bring a run in with a single down the left field line to make it 2-1.
 
In the bottom of the fifth, LIU tied it up. Hinkle had a one out single, and stole second after the second out. She came home on the next at bat, on junior Camryn Lyman's double to right center field, and the game was tied up, 2-2.
 
In the bottom of the sixth frame with two outs, junior Angelina Reno came in to pinch hit. And the Staten Island native did her job, blasting a home run over the right field fence to give the Sharks a 3-2 lead.
 
In the top of the seventh, LIU's defense helped clinch the win. After a lead-off single, senior shortstop Kiana Cisneros made a big play. Cisneros snagged a line out, and then beat the runner on first back to the base with a well-placed throw, getting the double play and giving LIU two outs. Senior Tallie Woodson (13-3) got the next batter to pop up, and LIU took the game one win, 3-2.
 
With the win, LIU advanced to the second elimination game, taking on #3 seed CCSU, who had lost to SFU earlier in the day.
 
#2 LIU 9, #3 CCSU 7
 
Game two was a bomb-fest, as the two teams hit a combined nine home runs over the course of seven innings. The Sharks got the party started in the second, when sophomore Maya Avila hit a two-run home run to put LIU up, 2-0. On the next at bat, junior Samantha Garcia did the same thing, hitting a home run over the left field fence to make it 3-0 Sharks.
 
CCSU would lead off with a home run in the bottom of the second inning, but in the top of the third, Avila did it again. With two runners on, Avila hit a bomb down the left field line scoring three runs, and putting LIU up, 6-1.
 
After CCSU scored three, senior Kiana Cisneros would hit an RBI double in the top of the fourth to make it 7-3.
 
In the fourth, the Blue Devils hit two home runs, and then did the same in the bottom of the sixth, tying up the game, 7-7 and putting the Sharks' backs against the wall once more.
 
But LIU would rally with two outs in the top of the seventh. Garcia had a single, and then Hinkle and Patricia Griffin both walked to load the bases. It was Lyman who would bring home the winning runs, with her single through the ride side that scored Garcia and Hinkle to put LIU up, 9-7.  
 
CCSU had a final chance in the bottom of the inning, and got a runner on base, but Woodson got the three outs need from the mound, and the Sharks clinched their 18th championship appearance in the last 22 seasons.
 
LIU will take on SFU in the championship game at 12 p.m. Saturday. Should the Sharks win game one, they will have to beat the Red Flash again in the 2:30 p.m. game, in the NEC's double-elimination format.