CHARLESTON, SC – The Iona College softball program splits its first two games of the 2018 season on Saturday. The Gaels opened the season falling to 2017 NCAA Tournament participant DePaul but bounced back with a thrilling win over the host of the Cougar Classic, the College of Charleston.
GAME 1: DePaul 2, Iona 0
Junior All-MAAC Preseason honoree Alana Evans pitched the full six innings and allowed zero earned runs against 31 batters. She allowed just two hits in addition to four walk while striking out four. The Blue Demons earned eight hits against Evans, but scored both their runs courtesy of an error committed in the infield.
Junior Morgan Greenwood and senior Megan Leyva collected both RBI win singles into the outfield. The winning run was scored by senior Haydn Christensen and the insurance tally ran home by sophomore Cara Jiminez.
Iona earned just one hit which came from junior right fielder Marisa Gergel in the first at-bat of the game. Freshman Pat Moore earned 12 strikeouts while dispensing two walks to junior Kimberly Chipparelli and senior Courtney Miller.
GAME 2: Iona 8, College of Charleston 7
In a back and forth game that lasted three hours, the Maroon & Gold came out with a 8-7 win over the Cougars. The Gaels evaded danger in the final innings as the College of Charleston stranded the tying run on third base in both the sixth and seventh innings.
Rookie Samantha Bender came on in relief in the final two frames and allowed just one hit and struck out one batter of the nine she faced. Sophomore Marnie Skinner received the win going five innings and allowing seven total runs, only of which three were earned. She struck on two batters while stranding seven hits and six walks.
Chiapparelli tallied a game-high three hits, including one of Iona's three extra-base hits. The big momentum-swimming blast came from sophomore Ciara DiGuilio in the fourth inning. A long-blast to left field resulted in the Warwick, NY native's first collegiate homerun that tied the game at two. Senior pinch-runner Samantha Mello scored on the homer.
Iona's offensive splurge came in the fifth inning. The Gaels scored six runs on seven hits and one error. All of the damage was done with two outs. Miller produced her first RBI of the season to begin the really by driving in Chiapparelli, who had doubled with one out.
Then freshman Maggie Foley tripled to centerfield and drove home sophomore Hailey Thompson and Miller. Following a pitching change, Gergel drove home Foley and sophomore Jasmine Temple ended the scoring with a single to right field.
The Cougars bounced back with three runs in the fifth and two runs in the sixth. Bender's first collegiate outing began with a Cougar run-producing single. That'd be the last tally on the scoreboard. Bender recorded three outs with the tying and winning runs in scoring position and then worked around an error in the final frame to earn the save.
Junior Kelly Sinclair was the College of Charleston's biggest threat with two hits, one run scored, and three runs batted in. Senior Jordin Jones had three walks and scored once. Sophomore Taylor Belfiore drove in two runs one two hits.
Iona continues the Cougar Classic on Saturday, Feb. against Northern Illinois and Presbyterian at 2:30 PM and 7 PM, respectively.
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