ORLANDO, FL - The Iona College softball team opened up its Spring Break trip to Florida with a pair of losses Wednesday afternoon at UCF Softball Complex. In game one, Iona fell to Northern Illinois 3-2 before dropping a 6-1 decision to the host Knights of Central Florida.
In game one, Iona cracked the scoreboard against the Huskies in the bottom of the third. Junior
Beth Kann reached on a one out error. Back-to-back walks to junior
Jodi Petersen and senior
Chelsea Sheehan loaded the bases for sophomore
Katie Jansson. Jansson reached on another Northern Illinois error, allowing pinch runner
Melanie Hay to score the first Iona run.
Northern Illinois tied up the contest in the fifth inning when Nicole Gremillion scored on a sarifice fly by Shelby Miller. The Huskies took the lead in the top of the seventh. Back-to-back singles by Stephanie Tofft and Miller started the rally. Two Iona errors on Miller's single allowed Tofft to score and Miller to move to third. Miller then scored on a passed ball to give Northern Illinois a 3-1 lead.
Iona got one run in the top of the seventh when Petersen drove in freshman
Allison Hand with a single to right field. The Gaels would have runners on second and third with one out in the inning, but could not get the hit needed to tie or take the lead.
Megan Dortch got the win for Northern Illinois, allowing two runs, one earned and two hits in seven innings. Senior
Alyssa Maiese suffered the loss for Iona, allowing three earned, seven hits and two walks in seven innings of work.
Against the Knights, Iona got its lone run in the top of the fourth inning. Trailing 1-0, senior
Deanne Algeo doubled to left with one out before freshman
Brianna Schauer reached on a throwing error, putting runners on the corners. Junior
Eileen McCann then delivered a pinch hit single to right to drive in Algeo and knot the contest at one.
UCF answered with three runs in the fifth, on RBI ground outs by Natalie Land and Farrah Sullivan as well as a sacrifice fly by Vanessa Perez. The Knights wrapped up their scoring with two in the sixth, on a two run single by Land.
Senior
Sarah Jackson took the loss for Iona, allowing four earned runs in six innings, while striking out six to move to 3-3 on the year. Alex Hartshorn got the win for UCF, allowing just seven hits and one run in seven innings.
Iona is back in action Friday when they begin three days worth of action at the USF Under Armor Invitational.
