CHARLOTTE, NC - The Iona College softball team closed out their opening weekend with a pair of contests at the 49er Round Robin. In game one, the Gaels defeated tournament host Charlotte 11-3. In the championship contest of the weekend, the Gaels were topped by Virginia Tech 8-1.
In the opener, the Gaels fell behind the 49ers in the first after Tenaya Tucker hit a two run home run in the bottom half of the inning to put the 49ers up 2-0.
Iona was quick to respond, putting up two runs of their own in the top of the second. With one out, junior 1B
Allyssa James singled and walks were issued to freshman RF
Katie Jansson and senior C
Melanie Gettins. Sophomore SS
Marisa Newman walked as well to drive in pinch runner
Tierney Markou with the Gaels' first run of the day. Pinch hitter
Beth Kann came up next drove in the second run with a ground out to first.
The teams were knotted at two until the fourth when the Gaels put another run across. Gettins led off with a single and was punch run for by sophomore
Cari Anderson. Newman reached on an error and the two runners were sacrificed over by senior LF
Erin Kyle. Sophomore CF
Jodi Petersen followed with a sacrifice fly to score Anderson and put Iona up 3-2.
In their next inning, the Gaels put the game out of reach with a six run inning. With one out, senior 3B
Alyssa Maiese homered to left. James followed two batters later with a single and was driven in on a double by Gettins. Gettins moved to third on a wild pitch and was driven in when Newman doubled down the left field line. Newman moved to third on a wild pitch. Kyle walked and Petersen singled to drive in Newman. With runners now on second and third, senior 2B
Tessa Earley walked before sophomore DP
Eileen McCann drove in two with a single to left to drive in the fifth and sixth runs of the frame.
The 49ers picked up a run in the bottom of the fifth to cut the Iona lead to 9-3 before the Gaels answered with one more in the sixth and another in the seventh. In the sixth, James and Jansson each singled. Gettins reached on an error on the left fielder. With one out and the bases loaded, junior
Deanne Algeo drove in James with a flyout. Kyle followed with a single to load the bases but the Gaels couldn't put anything else across in the inning.
In the seventh, the Gaels loaded the bases after McCann was hit by a pitch, junior 3B
Chelsea Sheehan walked and James singled to start the inning. Jansson singled to left to drive in McCann. Once again the Gaels were unable to drive in anything else despite the bases loaded situation.
Junior
Sarah Jackson went the distance for the Gaels to pick up her second win of the season in as many starts. Jackson allowed three earned runs on seven hits and struck out seven batters. Kalie Lang took the loss for the 49ers.
In game two, the Gaels were once again unable to find much offense against the Virginia Tech pitching, picking up just three hits.
The Hokies got on the board with an unearned run in the first. Dani Anderson drove in Ashton Ward with a single after Ward reached on an error to lead off the inning. Virginia Tech scored another three runs in the second highlighted by a two-run home run from Kristina Cruz and a run scoring single by Bkaye Smith.
In the third, the Hokies scored another two runs on back-to-back run scoring doubles from catcher Betty Rose and center fielder Kat Banks. Another run was scored in the fourth on a double by Courtney Liddle to push the lead to 7-0.
The Gaels finally cracked the scoreboard in the fifth when Gettins led off with a home run to left field. Tech put another run across in the sixth to reach the 8-1 final.
Maiese took the loss, allowing three runs in 1.1 innings of work. Kenzie Roark went the full seven for the Hokies and moved to 3-0 on the year.
The Gaels travel to Norfolk, VA in two weeks to compete at the Spartan Invitational. They open up with a matchup against Morgan State at 5:00 pm on Feb. 26.
