AMHERST — All season long it felt like Taunton had a date with destiny and the history books. On Sunday at Sortino Field, the Tigers completed their mission.

Sam Lincoln twirled a three-hit shutout in her final performance in Tiger colors while her teammates broke open a close game in the middle innings. It all added up to a 5-0 win over Hockomock League rival King Phillip and becoming the first team since Bishop Fenwick to win four consecutive state championships.

“It’s an undescribable feeling,” Taunton cosch Michelle Raposo said. “We didn’t thing this could be possible. But we knew coming in (Sunday) that the only way they could beat us is if we beat ourselves.”

It was a team effort in every sense of the phrase for the 25-0 Tigers. Lincoln’s pitching was coupled with some brilliant defense and timely hitting against KP starter McCoy Walsh.

The pitching part of that equation came early as Lincoln stranded a runner at third in the top of the first, the first of several times on Sunday when she thwarted the Warriors.

“She has done an unbelievable job of controlling her pitches,” Raposo said of the Texas Tech-bound Lincoln.

The defense stepped into the forefront in the second when KP again had a runner on but Brooke Aldrich turned an unassisted double play to end the inning. Her bat also would be heard from later on.

The offense joined the fun in the third as Mia Torres led off with a triple, the first of her three hits on the day. Bella Bourque’s sacrifice fly to left easily scored her for a 1-0 lead.

“Mia’s done a great job of getting the bat on the ball but she hasn’t gotten on base so for her to get that triple and help give Sam that reassurance was huge,” Raposo said.

One inning later, Taunton opened up some breathing room.

A walk, a fielders choice and a fly-out opened the bottom of the fourth. Maddie Crowley worked a two out walk to keep the inning going and Torres made Walsh pay as she singled home Gracie Oliviera to make it 2-0.

A wild pitch brought Crowley home and moved Torres to third. Bourque then singled to center, scoring Torres to make it 4-0 in the blink of an eye.

The Warriors (17-10) had a chance to cut into the lead in the top of the fifth as Jo Bennett singled and Allie Cecere followed with a walk. But Lincoln responded with three consecutive strikeouts to end the inning.

Aldrich then provided the crowning blow on Taunton’s title when she blasted the second pitch from Walsh in the fifth off the scoreboard in left for her sixth homer of the postseason.

From there, it was about counting down the outs for the Tigers until Lincoln fielded Syd Burch’s bunt with two down in the seventh and threw over to Oliveira to begin the celebration.

“I was nervous (Sunday) but not about the game,” Raposo said. “I wanted them to have a memory like this that would last a lifetime.”

And that’s exactly what Taunton will now have.