LOUDONVILLE, NY – The Iona College softball team split its Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference opening doubleheader against Siena on Saturday. The Gaels won the first game thanks to a strong start from rookie Kara Zazzaro and a three-run bomb from junior Jasmine Temple.

GAME ONE: IONA 6 – SIENA 2

Maddie McMahon struck out two batters in a 1-2-3 first inning for Siena. The Saints' offense provided run support early on for their starter; a leadoff double followed by a sacrifice bunt put a runner on third with one away. Iona starter Kara Zazzaro got a lineout for the second out, but Isabelle DeChiaro singled into leftfield to give the Green & Gold a 1-0 lead.
 
Senior Kimmie Chiapparelli led off the next half inning with an opposite field two-bagger. Temple singled back up the middle and Ciarra DiGuilio followed that up with a sacrifice fly to even things at one apiece. Freshman Hannah Collins popped up with runners on first and second to end the inning.
 
Zazzaro set down the Saints in the bottom of the second and Temple blasted a three-run homerun with two outs to give the Gaels a 4-1 advantage. Natalia Meray and Marisa Gergel began the inning with back-to-back singles and came around to score on the Temple homer.
 
After being gifted the lead in the prior half inning, Zazzaro surrendered a homerun of her own to trim the Maroon & Gold's lead to 4-2. Madysen Cossack solo shot opened the frame, but her teammates went down in order to end the third inning. 
 
Iona added some insurance in the fifth; Jessica Chilcott doubled to begin the inning and came around to score after a throwing error on a stolen base attempt by Chiapparelli. DiGuilio doubled to centerfield to plate Chiapparelli and push Iona's lead to four runs. 
 
Zazzaro had retired eight straight batters before Cossack singled with two outs in the bottom half of the fifth. The rookie got a ground ball to end the inning and strand the runner, the fourth one left on base by the Saints on the day.
 
A walk and a hits batsman put two on with nobody out for the Gaels in the top of the sixth inning. Gergel, Chilcott and Chiapparelli were unable to push another run across for the Gaels.
 
Zazzaro allowed a leadoff double in the bottom of the sixth and moved 60 feet away on a groundout. With a runner on third and one out, Zazzaro induced another grounder and struck out Jess Vollmer to end the inning.
 
Siena went down in order in its final at-bat and the Maroon & Gold won in the conference opener.

GAME TWO: SIENA 5 - IONA 0

Junior Marnie Skinner started on the hill for the Gaels in game two; Siena scored a run in the first and two in the second to build up a 3-0 lead after two innings.
 
Iona went quietly in its turn at the bat in the top of the third; the Saints pushed across two more runs with two away in the bottom of the third, extending the advantage to 5-0. 
 
Senior Hailey Thompson had an opportunity to cut into the deficit with two away in the fourth and runners on second and third. The second baseman popped up to short and the Maroon & Gold remained scoreless. Skinner punched out two batters in the bottom half of the inning to record her first 1-2-3 inning. 
 
Siena's starter Brooke Hughes retired the Gaels in order in the fifth, but ran into a little bit of trouble in the next inning. Chilcott reached on an error to open the inning and Hughes walked Chiapparelli to put two runners on. Temple popped out to record the first out and a fielder's choice accounted for the second out of the inning. Taylor Brown pinch hit for Skinner and grounded out to end the frame; Iona left its sixth and seventh runner on base.
 
Collins singled with one out in the seventh inning but Meray and Gergel were retired to follow the base hit and Siena was victorious in game two.

UP NEXT

Iona will stay on the road and continue conference play as they visit Marist to play two games on Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. in Poughkeepsie, NY.

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