DANBURY, Conn. - After being edged in the opener, 8-7, senior left fielder Rachel Ushka (Southbury, Conn.) drove in the game-winning run in extra innings of Game Two as the Western Connecticut State University softball team earned a doubleheader split with Vermont State University Castleton in a Little East Conference affair on Saturday afternoon at Westside Field. Ushka's RBI lifted the Wolves to a 5-4 win. 

Game One was all Spartans to start the contest. They tallied runs in the second, fourth and fifth innings to jump out to a 6-0 lead. Graduate student infielder Charline Plasczynski (Bristol, Conn.) got the Wolves on the board in the bottom of the fifth when she ripped a double down the left field line, scoring Ushka, who led off the frame with a walk. Castleton countered with another pair of runs in the top of the sixth, widening the gap to 8-1. However, the hosts battled back with six runs in the bottom half, closing the deficit to 8-7. Rookie pitcher Lindsay Farinaccio (Red Hook, N.Y.) roped a solo homer just inside the left field pole to begin the flurry. Moments later, classmate Kendall Allen (Naugatuck, Conn.) singled thru the right side to send another runner across the plate. Plasczynski then drove in a pair of runners with a shot up the middle, shrinking the margin to 8-5. Allen then scored on a Castleton miscue before Plasczynski scored after a single from sophomore Alexi Resto (Shelton, Conn.) to cut it to a one-run game. Senior Sydney Chenoweth (Baldwinsville, Mass.) smacked a double to the center field fence to get the Wolves the potential equalizer. However, she was stranded on a foul pop up to end the game. 

In the second contest, the Wolves pierced the scoring column first when Plasczynski doubled to right field, pushing Ushka across the plate after she reached on a bunt single. The visitors would eventually answer as they racked up a four-run sixth inning to seize a 4-1 lead. But WestConn retaliated in the bottom half with a trio of runs to knot it at 4-4. Chenoweth roped an RBI single to the outfield to even the score. The Wolves loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh with one out. However, they were unable to tally the game-winner as an infield pop up and a liner to shortstop sent the game to extra innings. In the ninth, the hosts loaded the bases once again. This time Ushka stepped to the plate and drilled a shot thru the left side of the infield to send the winning run across the plate. She would finish 4-of-5 from the batter's box. Chenoweth pitched the entire nine innings to earn the win.

With the split, the Wolves moved to 14-20 overall and 6-8 in league play. The Spartans went to 14-14 and 3-7. WestConn returns to action for a doubleheader at Mt. Saint Mary College on Wednesday.