NEW BRITAIN, Conn. – The University of Hartford softball team split a pair of games with neighboring rival Central Connecticut State University on Wednesday afternoon. The Hawks scored a 6-4 win in the opening contest before falling in game two by a 6-2 final. The 2013 season continues for Hartford (4-9) this weekend as it travels to the Delaware Tournament to play five games over a three-day span.

Zuzana Kudernatschova pitched a complete game, striking out a career-best six batters, while senior Kate Wacyk went 3-of-3 at the plate, scoring two runs while driving in the go-ahead runs to lead the Hawks to the comeback win in the opening game.

Hartford jumped out to take a 2-1 lead, however, Central Connecticut (8-5) pushed ahead by the second inning, 3-2, forcing the Hawks to play from behind for a good chunk of the game. The visiting squad answered back in the top of the fifth, using four runs to regain their advantage, one they would not relinquish.

The Hawks did their first-inning damage with two outs recorded in the frame. Wacyk singled to get the offense started, and Jordan Haines kept the rally going, notching a single that was deep enough to push her fellow classmate to third. With runners on the corners, sophomore Jackie Kelly reached base on a throwing error by Central Connecticut's shortstop, allowing Wacyk to coast past home plate and give Hartford the early 1-0 lead.

Batting out of the six-hole in the line-up, Chelsey Mooney's patience at the plate paid off as she worked a two-out walk off of Blue Devils' pitcher Laura Messina to load up the bases. The Hawks would then capitalize, using a base hit off the bat of Melani Maxwell to plate Haines from third and make it a 2-0 ball game.

Central Connecticut answered, however, scoring a single run in the bottom of the first before taking its first, and only, advantage of the contest using a pair of runs in the second.

The Hawks' defense was nearly perfect to start off the game, as Kudernatschova induced Nicole Springer into a ground out and struck out two others. The lone blemish, however, cost Hartford one run as Malcolm eyed one pitch and smacked a one-out single to get the Blue Devils on the board.

In their next at-bats, the Blue Devils' offense got going, using a pair of singles and a hit batter to load up the bases with one out recorded in the frame. Emery, who pinch-ran for Brown after she knocked an outfield single, tied up the game at 2-2 following a walk by Sandstrom while Barlow provided her team with its first lead of the game, 3-2, scoring on a fielder's choice.

The top of the fifth proved to be the deciding one, as the Hawks lit up the scoreboard with four runs to reclaim the lead for good. Two hits coupled with a series of Blue Devils' errors were used to put up the tallies to clinch the win.

Erica Phelps led-off the frame with an outfield single, and after grabbing an extra base on a throwing error by the Blue Devils' left fielder, she moved to third on a sacrifice bunt that saw Amber Andrews take a base as a result of another error. The miscues continued to plague the home team as Jenice Aloyo reached on an error by Messina, scoring the game-tying run in Phelps on the play.

With still zero outs recorded, Wacyk broke the game open with a single to left field, plating Aloyo and Andrews to put Hartford back ahead at 5-3. The senior went on to push her team's lead to three runs using a sacrifice fly off the bat of Haines.

Messina managed to get out of the inning without allowing any more runs, and in her team's next at-bats, Central Connecticut made its attempt at a comeback. The Blue Devils grabbed one run back in the bottom of the fifth, using a sacrifice bunt to drive-in Nicole Springer who singled earlier in the frame. In their next at-bats, Central Connecticut threatened again with runners on the corners and one down, but the Hawks' defense stepped their game up, turning a double play to get out of the jam.

Hartford led 2-0 through two innings and held on until the bottom of the fourth frame in the nightcap before Central Connecticut's offense received a spark. Over the final three frames, the Blue Devils erased their deficit and pushed ahead, using single runs in the fourth and fifth to tie up the game and securing the win and the doubleheader split with four more runs in the bottom half of the sixth.

Brittany Beebe suffered the loss in the circle after allowing four earned runs over the final 1.2 innings. Kaitlyn Meade started the gameand worked 4.1 innings for the Hawks. During that stretch, she conceded Central Connecticut's first two runs, including the game tying run in the home team's comeback bid.

The Hawks got on the board in the top of the first and again in the top of the second on RBI singles by Haines and Andrews.

That lead would be halved in the bottom part of the fourth inning, though, as Chotkevys sent a long ball into centerfield to make it 2-1. Keough went on to plate the game-tying run in the bottom of the fifth, using a squeeze-play to bring home Malcolm, who singled earlier in the inning.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Blue Devils loaded up the bases with one out, setting the scene for Ernst who cleared the bases with a deep double down the left field line. She would then cross home and give her team the 6-2 lead using an RBI double off the bat of Malcolm.