MANSFIELD, Mass. - Sophomore Benni Tucci (Norwalk, Conn.) tripled in the game-tying run and scored the go-ahead run on a double by junior Alexis Resto (Shelton, Conn.) to lead the Western Connecticut State University Wolves to a 7-3 victory over the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Corsairs in the first elimination game of the Little East Conference (LEC) Softball Championship Tournament this evening at Clyde Washburne Field. 

No. 5-seeded WestConn, which was narrowly beaten, 2-1, by UMass Boston in the first game of the day, is now 23-19 and will face either Plymouth State or Southern Maine in another elimination game tomorrow at 3:30 p.m.  UMass Dartmouth sees its season end at 20-18 and the UMass Boston Beacons improve to 28-10-1 and will play top-seeded and tournament host Eastern Connecticut tomorrow at 10:30 a.m.

Junior SS Jaycee Filancia (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) led off the bottom of the fifth inning of game two with a walk and scored the game-tying run on Tucci's triple to right-center.  Resto followed with a double to left-center to plate Tucci and give the Wolves a 4-3 lead, before scoring the third run of the inning on a two-out single by senior OF Brianna Malvino (Glen Cove, N.Y.).  Three Corsair errors in the sixth helped WestConn scored two insurance runs in the sixth, as senior OF Carly Cordova (East Havne, Conn.) had a single and scored a run in the frame.

WestConn lefty starter Olivia Bordenaro (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) had allowed just one hit through her first three innings, while the Wolves took a 1-0 lead on a leadoff single by graduate Rachael Ushka (Southbury, Conn.) and an RBI bunt hit by freshman Sera DeBaggis (Mendon, Mass.).  The Corsairs strung together four singles in a row and scored three runs, two earned, in the fourth, before Wolves righty hurler Lindsay Farinacchio (Red Hook, N.Y.) ended the rally and went to hold UMass Dartmouth scoreless the rest of the way to improve to 10-9.

In game one, the Wolves took a 1-0 lead on walks by Filancia and DeBaggis and an RBI single by Tucci in the third inning.  Graduate Gretchen Bunovsky (Monroe, Conn.) managed the lone Wolves hit until the seventh inning, however, and the Beacons scored twice in the fifth on a two-out, two-run single by Hayley Krockta.  DeBaggis and Tucci both singled for the Wolves in the seventh, but Bri Melchionda escaped the inning and finished her complete game to improve to 8-3.  Farinacchio yielded only two hits and struck out two in a hard-luck loss, while Tucci was 3-for-3 at the plate, and the WestConn defense did not commit an error.