CLEARWATER, FL - The Iona College softball team completed the first leg of its trip to the Sunshine State by posting a 2-3 mark at the Michelle Smith Spring Break Tournament, hosted by USF at the Eddie C. Moore Complex.
The Gaels opened up the weekend with their first victory of the season, a 4-1 win over Providence of the Big East conference before closing out the five game slate with a 5-3 victory over UMass of the Atlantic 10 The Maroon & Gold dropped a trio of contests in between, beginning with a 6-2 setback to Florida A&M on Friday. On Saturday, the Gaels fell to Buffalo 2-0 and Butler 8-0 in five innings.
Against the Friars, red shirt senior outfielder Eileen McCann led the Gaels with three hits and two runs scored. Junior outfielder Allison Hand and junior designated hitter Carly Argyle each had two hits, while Hand drove in two runs in the win. Argyle led the Gaels in the circle, throwing her first complete game, allowing six hits and one unearned run in seven innings for her first win of the season.
Trailing by one, Iona got on the board in the fourth inning on a double by Hand that drove in McCann with the first Gaels run. The Maroon & Gold put the game away with a three run fifth inning. McCann drove in a run with a single before back-to-back RBI hits from Hand and Argyle.
Against Florida A&M, the Gaels got their only runs of the contest in the top of the first inning. Junior Brianna Schauer led off the game with a single and three batters later, freshman Katie Turner delivered her team leading fourth home run of the year to center to drive in two. The Rattlers silenced the Iona bats the rest of the way, taking the lead for good in the bottom of the second with five runs before adding one more in the fourth. Schauer led the Gaels with two hits in the contest.
In Saturday's opener against Buffalo, Argyle and Buffalo starter Tori Speckman faced off in a pitchers duel. The Bulls tagged Argyle for two runs in the top of the first inning and would not look back. Argyle held Buffalo off the board for the remainder of the contest but Speckman held Iona to just three base runners as the Gaels fell by a margin of 2-0. McCann slugged two of Iona's three hits in the contest.
The Gaels once again had trouble on offense in the second game of the day, as Butler starter Kristin Gutierrez held Iona to two hits over five innings. The Bulldogs connected on 13 hits in the run shortened game. Sophomore Jordan Courage was charged with the loss for Iona, allowing 10 hits and five runs in 4.0 innings of work.
In the Tournament finale win over UMass, Iona came back from a 3-0 deficit with three runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth.
The Minutewomen took their three run lead with three runs in the fourth. Iona answered in the fifth when sophomore Sydney Dimon drove home freshman Ashlyn Morris with an RBI single before Turner tied the game with a two run single up the middle, plating Schauer and freshman Katie Newton.
The Gaels took the lead for good in the sixth. Argyle led off with a double and was promptly pinch run for by freshman Kelsey Long. Senior Katie Jansson then followed with a double of her own to plate Long with the game winning run. After a ground out moved Jansson over, she then scored on a wild pitch to give the Gaels some breathing room.
Argyle grabbed her second win of the weekend, going seven, allowing three runs and five hits.
Iona has three games remaining in the Sunshine State, beginning Tuesday with a matchup against UCF scheduled to start at 4:00 pm. The team then takes on Green Bay in a neutral site doubleheader in Clearwater.
