SAN DIEGO, CA - The Iona College softball team continued play in the Golden State Wednesday afternoon, falling to Southern Utah 9-3 at San Diego State's SDSU Softball Stadium.

Southern Utah got on the board quickly, when the second batter of the contest, Bryant homer to left off Iona starter Carly Argyle.  In the second, the Thunderbirds would put four runs across, putting two across against Argyle before scoring two more runs off reliever Christine Costello.

Southern Utah pushed another run across in the third, before Iona cracked the scoreboard in the bottom of the inning.  Freshman Sarah Schutz led off with a single, and senior Jodi Petersen followed with one of her own.  A single by sophomore Allison Hand loaded the bases, and two batters later Costello drove in a run with a bases loaded walk.

Iona trimmed the deficit to three with two runs in the fifth, but it would be as close as the Gaels would get in the game.  Schutz reached on a wild pitch third strike before Petersen reached on an infield single.  Freshman Sydney Dimon singled to load the bases before Costello picked up her second RBI, reaching on a fielders choice.  Senior Beth Kann drove in the second run of the inning with an RBI groundout.

Southern Utah sealed the contest with three runs in the seventh inning, scoring runs on RBI singles by Kelli Hales and Mikkel Griffin and a sacrifice fly by Kelsey Bryant.

Ashley Oster got the win for the Thunderbirds, allowing one run and five hits over three innings of work.  Argyle took the loss, allowing five runs, four earned, over 1.1 innings.

Iona resumes play Friday at UC Riverside Tournament, beginning with a matchup against Notre Dame at 2:15 pm.