POUGHKEEPSIE, NY – The Iona College softball team scored four runs over the final two innings to erase a two-run deficit and salvage a split of the doubleheader with Marist on Monday afternoon. Marist won the opening game of the day 1-0 behind a complete-game effort from freshman Calista Phippen.
GAME ONE: MARIST 1 – IONA 0
Two freshmen took the hill to do battle in the first of the two games between the Gaels and the Red Foxes. Phippen retired the Maroon & Gold in order in the first, striking out two. Marist put runners on the corners with one out in the bottom half of the inning thanks to a single, a walk and a couple of wild pitches in between. Caroline Baratta scored from third on a double steal in which the runner from first advanced safely to second.
Kara Zazzaro worked out of the jam, holding the Red Foxes to just the one run.
A two-out single for junior
Ciarra DiGuilio was the first hit of the ballgame for Iona; Zazzaro grounded a 3-2 pitch to first base, ending the inning. Marist put a runner on first to open the second inning and she moved up 60 feet on a sacrifice bunt. Two strikeouts stranded a runner in scoring position for the second consecutive inning to open up the game.
Zazzaro's most stressful inning was the fourth. She retired the leadoff hitter on two pitches, but it took seven pitches to strike out Claire Oberdorf. Iona's starter would walk the next three batters to load the bases, throwing a combined 17 pitches to the first two batters who drew a base on balls. Kaley Coltrain fouled off two 3-2 offerings from Zazzaro and Madison Lee fought off three consecutive full-count pitches to eventually earn a walk. Zazzaro would finally get the pinch hitter to strikeout, her second of the inning, to leave the bases juiced.
The Gaels went quietly in the fifth and quietly in the sixth, besides a
Natalia Meray base on balls. Zazzaro was able to keep the deficit at one, but Iona could not provide any run support for the rookie and lost the opening game of the doubleheader, 1-0.
GAME TWO: IONA 5 – MARIST 3
Junior
Marnie Skinner took the hill in game two for Iona; Marist sent out Megan Beiermeister. A fielding error and a walk placed two runners on base to open up the first frame for the Maroon & Gold, but Beiermeister got Kimmie Chiapparelli to bounce into a double play to get out of the inning. Skinner got two quick outs in the bottom half of the first before an error, wild pitch and a single gave the Red Foxes an early 1-0 advantage.
Shoddy defense behind Beiermeister turned into a run for the Gaels in the top of the second.
Jasmine Temple led off the inning with a single and came around to score after a miscue in the field. DiGuilio, who reached second on the error, moved up to third base after Skinner grounded out to back to the mound.
Hailey Thompson popped out and
Hannah Collins was retired to keep things tied at 1-1.
Two more errors in the top of the second almost proved costly for the Maroon & Gold, but Skinner got a strikeout and some help from Chiapparelli who gunned down Hailee Jantorno trying to lay down a bunt to retire the side.
Both teams went down in order in the third, the first 1-2-3 inning for both of the starters. The top of the fourth began with a Temple single, but ended eight pitches later after three straight groundouts. Oberdorf would break the tie in the bottom half of the fourth when she sent the first pitch she saw over the left field fence. Skinner would bear down and retire the next two batters on four pitches to keep the deficit at one.
Baratta got a hold of one in the fifth inning and extended Marist's lead to 3-1, homering on an 0-2 count with two outs. Down by two runs, Iona loaded the bases with one out in the top of the sixth.
Jessica Chilcott reached on an infield single to start the inning and Chiapparelli and DiGuilio followed with walks. Chiapparelli drew a seven-pitch walk and DiGuilio worked a six-pitch walk. Freshman
Brianna Buck came off of the bench to pinch-hit for Skinner, delivering a run-scoring single to rightfield to trim the Red Foxes' lead to just one run. Thompson would push across the tying run, earning a seven-pitch, bases-loaded walk to tie the affair at three. Phippen relieved Beiermeister and stranded the all three runners she inherited to keep things tied.
Skinner got the first two outs after a leadoff walk in the bottom of the sixth out, but walked the next two batters to put three ducks on the pond for the Red Foxes. A grounder back to the pitcher forced out the runner heading for third base and kept things even heading into the final frame.
Senior
Marisa Gergel doubled off of Phippen to lead off the seventh inning and advanced to third base on a fly-out to rightfield. Chiapparelli drew her second base on balls of the game and
Kayla Hujber relieved her on the basepaths. Hujber swiped second to erase the possibility of an inning-ending double play and came around to score when Temple laced a single into the opposite field to give the Gaels a 5-3 lead.
Zazzaro entered to try and shut down Marist and give Iona the split in the doubleheader. A leadoff walk brought the tying run to the dish, but Zazzaro would eventually get Ali Milam to strike out looking to end the game and earn the first save of her collegiate career.
NOTABLE NUGGETS
- Temple was 3-4 in the second game, plating the eventual winning runs in the top of the seventh.
- Skinner notched her second win of the season and Iona handed Phippen her second loss of the year.
- Gergel hit safely in three of her six at-bats on the afternoon for the Maroon & Gold.
- DiGuilio was responsible for two of the Gaels' three hits in the opening game of the doubleheader.
- The two teams combined for seven hits and 15 strikeouts in game one.
- Zazzaro ended up on the losing end of a 1-0 game for the second time this season. She allowed four hits, walked four and struck out seven.
- Marist base runners swiped three bags against the Zazzaro/Collins battery.
- The Red Foxes were 1-8 with two outs and were hitless in 12 at-bats with runners on against the rookie from Southington, CT across both games.
UP NEXT
The Gaels are back in action on Wednesday, hosting the Army Black Knights for a doubleheader at Donald E. Walsh Field. First pitch is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.
SOCIAL MEDIA
ICGaels:
Twitter,
Facebook and
Instagram (
E-Mail Updates)
Iona Softball:
Twitter,
Facebook and
Instagram (
E-Mail Updates
