SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The University of Hartford softball team exploded offensively late in the nightcap to secure the doubleheader split with Commonwealth Coast Conference foe Western New England Saturday at the Golden Bears Softball Field.

GAME ONE: WESTERN NEW ENGLAND 8, HARTFORD 3
Graduate Mara Sczecienski went 3-for-3 with a run scored, but Hartford was 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position in having its five-game winning streak come to an end.

Back-to-back doubles by Sczecienski and sophomore Gia Miccio opened the scoring in the second inning.

WNE took the lead for good with a two-out, three-run homer in the third inning. The Golden Bears added a pair of runs in the fifth and three in the sixth.

Freshman Alexis Sealey finished the scoring with her first career home run, a two-run blast, in the seventh inning.

Sophomore Carly Mayhood (5-2) allowed three earned runs on five hits over four innings with four strikeouts.

GAME TWO: HARTFORD 10, WESTERN NEW ENGLAND 4 (10 INN.)
Hartford scored seven runs, the final three coming as Miccio hit her first career home run, in the tenth inning to earn the doubleheader split.

With the offense being held to just three hits through six innings, Sczecienski got the seventh-inning rally going with an inning-opening double. She scored the tying run on an RBI single by sophomore Anita Farkash. The Hawks had a chance for another run, but it was thrown out at the plate to end the seventh.

Both teams took advantage of the international tiebreaker by scoring individual runs in the eighth and ninth innings. But the Hawks blew the game open with the aforementioned seven-spot in the tenth.

An inning-opening error brought home the go-ahead run, and two more came home with an Olivia Wolk single. Wolk came around to score an insurance run, and Miccio put the game away with the home run.

Freshman Gracie Hopkins (3-1) earned the win in relief, surrendering three unearned runs on two hits with four strikeouts over the final four innings. Sealey went the first six innings, yielding just one earned run on six hits with three strikeouts.

INSIDE THE BOX & NOTES

• Sczecienski increased her hitting streak to eight games and has recorded a hit in 13 of the last 14 games. She has at least two hits in five of the last six games.
• Miccio drove in a career-high three runs in the nightcap and has four multi-hit games in her career.
• Beebe has five RBI over the last three games.
• Sealey extended her hitting streak to eight games with back-to-back multi-hit contests. She now has six multi-hit games this season.
• The seven-run tenth was the most runs scored in any inning this season, eclipsing the six-run seventh against Roger Williams (April 5).

WHAT'S NEXT
Hartford (13-6-1, 5-1 CCC opponents) hosts Division II American International College 2:30 p.m. Thursday in a doubleheader at the Hartford Softball Field.