GORHAM, Maine - Western Connecticut State University graduate
Rachael Ushka (Southbury, Conn.) singled and doubled and scored three runs to lead the visiting Wolves to a 6-4 win in eight innings against the University of Southern Maine Huskies in Little East Conference (LEC) softball action this afternoon. WestConn, which lost the first game of the regular season-ending doubleheader, 5-1, improves to 22-18 overall and 8-8 in the LEC and has qualified for the conference championship tournament next week. Southern Maine moves to 20-18 overall and 10-6 in the league, and will also compete in the LEC Tournament next week.
WestConn trailed, 4-2, after four innings but scored once each in the fifth and sixth innings and twice in the eighth to win it. Wolves junior SS
Jaycee Filancia (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) led off the fifth with a single, stole second and scored on a groundout by classmate
Alexis Resto (Shelton, Conn.). Ushka started the sixth frame with a double and scored on an RBI single by freshman
Sera DeBaggis (Mendon, Mass.) to tie the game.
In the eighth, the Wolves graduate
Gretchen Bunovsky (Monroe, Conn.) led off with a walk and Ushka followed with an infield single. Bunovsky scored the game-wnning run on a wild pitch and Ushka added an insurance run after a throwing error by the Huskies. WestConn lefty starter
Olivia Bordenaro (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) survived 12 hits, but yielded only two earned runs and none after the fourth inning to improve to 8-8. Bordenaro struck out three and walked just one. Filancia singled and doubled and senior C
Madison Zicchinelli (Miller Place, N.Y.) doubled and threw out a Huskies baserunner at third to end the game.
In game one, Southern Maine jumped out to a 4-0 lead after one inning, as Wolves sophomore starter Lindsay Farinacchio (Red Hook, N.Y.) allowed eight hits with four K's over six innings but dropped to 10-8. DeBaggis and Filancia both doubled and sophomore
Kendall Allen (Naugatuck, Conn.) was 2-for-3 for the Wolves offense. Senior
Brianna Malvino (Glen Cove, N.Y.) singled to lead off the top of the seventh before DeBaggis' double, but the Huskies got the last two outs to hold on.
