NAPLES, Fla. - Junior Carly Cordova (East Haven, Conn.) went 2-for-3 with a walk, a double, two runs and three RBIs to lead the Western Connecticut State University Wolves to a 9-1 win over the Crown College Polars in Gene Cusic Softball Classic softball action this morning at North Collier Complex.  WestConn, which also dropped a 5-3 decision against the University of Pittsburgh-Bradford Panthers today, ends its spring break with a 6-6 record.  Crown drops to 2-14 and Pitt-Bradford improves to 10-4.  The Wolves have eight days off before facing Cortland State and Farmingdale State twice each next weekend in Long Island.

WestConn struck first against Crown when Cordova drew a leadoff walk and eventually scored on a passed ball and sophomore Alexis Resto (Shelton, Conn.) delivered with a two-out RB double in the bottom of the first inning.  Crown got on the board when Abby Underdahl led off the top of the second inning with a triple and scored on a sacrifice fly, but WestConn answered in a big way with four runs in the bottom of the second.  Cordova had an RBI single and scored a run, while senior Rachael Ushka (Southbury, Conn.) belted an RBI triple and also scored in the second for the Wolves.  WestConn scored another run on a passed ball in the third inning and Cordova ended the game early with a two-run double in the sixth to activate the eight-run mercy rule with the score at 9-1.  Resto joined Cordova with two hits against the Polars, while freshman Brianne McKay (Riverhead, N.Y.) and senior Sydney Chenoweth (Baldwinville, Mass.) split the game in the circle for WestConn and yielded just four hits and one walk with five strikeouts.  Chenoweth was especially effective in relief with three innings of hitless work and five K's.  

Against Pitt-Bradford, rookie pitcher Lindsay Farinaccio (Red Hook, N.Y.) was stellar with five innings of scoreless relief and four strikeouts, but the Panther had scored once in the first and four times in the second for all the runs they needed.  Three of Pitt-Bradford's runs were unearned.  Farinaccio chipped in with the bat as well, beginning with an RBI double to tie the score at 1-1 in the bottom of the first inning.  The Wolves got two runs back in the third frame, including one on a sacrifice fly by Resto,  WestConn put runners on base in every inning but the first but Krislyn Clement pitched out of several jams to earn the victory in relief for the Panthers.  Freshman Caitlin Conley (Ridgefield, Conn.) started for the Wolves but dropped to 1-1.  Farinaccio and fellow WestConn rookie Kendall Allen (Naugatuck, Conn.) both went 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI at the plate.  Wolves graduate student Charline Placzynski (Bristol, Conn.) was 2-for-4 and S. Stroup was 2-for-4 for Pitt-Bradford.