Farmville, VA - The Iona College softball played its way into the championship at the Lancer Invitational. The Gaels (2-2) were down early to Quinnipiac but used a pair of runs in the fourth, fifth and seventh inning to take a 6-3 victory. With the win, Iona headed to the championship game to face tournament host, Longwood, for the second time. The Gaels battled, but a late rally pushed the Lancers to a 6-4 win.

In the first game against the Bobcats (1-2), the teams were scoreless heading into the bottom of the third. Kelly Wall lead-off with a walk,stole a bag, and was singled home by Jill Viglione to give Qunnipiac a 1-0 lead. The Gaels responded their next time at the plate as Jessica Horvath stroked a double to left and Lolli MillsValerie Laschen was hit-by-pitch to load the bases, Becky Riccitelli helped her own cause and drove the ball to center field bringing home a pair of runs and the Gaels were up 2-1. singled to put two on. After

The lead grew to 4-1 in the top of the fifth as the Maroon and Gold again got the lead-off man on as Kaitlin Calogera singled. The Gaels had two runners in scoring position, Melanie Gettins and Jessica Horvath, thanks to two Quinnipiac errors and Gettins came in to score on error by the catcher. After Mills walked and Laschen singled, Riccitelli grabbed her third RBI platting Horvath.

The Gaels final two runs came across in the top of the seventh inning. Gettins picked up her second hit of the day, going 2-for-4 at the plate, A wild pitch and a Horvath ground-out again found Gettins on third base. Laschen added another RBI to her weekend total with a single to left scoring Gettins. She used a passed ball to advance to second and as Riccitelli reached on a shortstop error, Laschen came home as Iona claimed a 6-3 win and advanced to the championship game against Longwood. Riccitelli pitched seven innings with three earned runs on six hits, five walks and three strikeouts in the win. "Becky outsmarted the opponents," said Head Coach Jaime Wohlbach. "She kept them off the bases. Offensively, we did the fundamentals properly. We did a great job executing."

Heading into the game against Longwood, the Gaels were ready for their second meeting with the Lancers. "We started out with Longwood and it was our first game outside," commented Wohlbach. "It was our first time outside and on dirt. By the time we played our fourth game, we were playing a much better ballgame. The key to our success was to be aggressive and we changed our offensive mentality from the first time we faced them." It showed as the Gaels jumped out to the early lead. In the top of the second, Mills put a lead-off single into left field and Laschen tattooed the ball on a her way to an RBI triple. Riccitelli, who was the designated hitter, flied out to center, but it was deep enough to give Iona a 2-0 lead. The lead grew to three runs in the third inning as Calogera crossed the plate on a Horvath RBI single.

The Lancers (5-3) responded with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth to cut the lead to 3-2. The scored remained until the top of the sixth when the Maroon and Gold struck again. Laschen picked up her third hit of the game, seventh of the invitational, and came around to score as Courtney Christie singled to right, but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double and it was 4-2 Iona. Longwood, though plated four runs on five hits to take a 6-4 lead and the win.

Coach Wohlbach was happy with the play of her team at the Lancer Invitational and getting to the championship game. "We have some work to do on the little things, but we played a really hard fought game and the girls played well," stated Wohlbach. "I think when we start pulling things together." As far as an outlook for the near future and the season, Wohlbach said the team is "on track and moving in the direction we want to head in. We are playing just one pitch, one game at a time. For not a strong fall season, we really ended up playing a strong tournament."

Iona had two players selected to the Lancer Spring Classic All-Tournament Team, sophomore Caitlin Calogera and junior Valeria Laschen.  Caitlin Hooe from Longwood was named tournament MVP.  The Gaels have a week off before taking on Fordham in a double-header on March 4 and then heading down to Fairfax, Virginia for the George Mason Invitational on March 8.