NEW ROCHELLE, NY – The Iona College softball team dropped a pair of Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference games at home to Fairfield on Saturday afternoon. The Gaels' defensive miscues did them in against the Stags in the first game, and a homerun late in game two helped Fairfield complete the sweep.
GAME ONE: FAIRFIELD 6 – IONA 1
The Stags' ace, Lauryn Rhinehart, dominated the Maroon & Gold in the opening game of a pivotal doubleheader. Rhinehart shut Iona down through 5.2 innings before finally conceding a run in the sixth inning, eventually closing the door on any chance at a rally for the Gaels.
A rough day in the field for Iona began early and continued on as the game progressed. Senior
Hailey Thompson had Alisha Marshall dead to rights on a play at the plate, but an overthrow allowed the Stags to take a 1-0 lead with just one away in the first inning. Freshman
Kara Zazzaro denied Fairfield of any more runs in the frame by retiring the next two batters with runners on second and third base.
Marisa Gergel and Kimmie Chiapparelli drew a walk in the bottom of the first, but sophomore
Natalia Meray struck out to leave the two on base. Junior
Ciarra DiGuilio singled to lead off the second inning, but was hung out to dry after Rhinehart punched out the following three hitters.
Zazzaro continued to battle into the later innings of the game. Drew Westford doubled to begin the fifth inning and was sacrificed to third base. She would come around to score on Meray's throwing error, which in turn allowed Marshall to reach second base. After Zazzaro got Lacey Olaff to foul out for the second out of the frame, the Stags stroked off two consecutive singles to plate another runner. One more error in the outfield would give Fairfield their fifth run of the game before a strikeout ended things in the fifth inning. When all was said and done, the Stags scored four runs on four hits and two errors to take a 5-0 lead.
The Stags would tack on more unearned run in the sixth to take a 6-0 lead into the bottom of the sixth. Gergel and freshman
Jessica Chilcott singled to give Iona some late life; Rhinehart got the next two batters to hit lazy fly balls but would walk Meray on a 3-2 pitch to load the bases. DiGuilio laced the first pitch she saw into the hole between first and second base to plate Iona's first run of the afternoon.
Brianna Buck struck out to get Rhinehart out of the jam.
Iona would get put runners on second and third in the seventh inning, but
Jasmine Temple flew out to the opposite field to wrap up game one at Donald E. Walsh Field.
GAME TWO: FAIRFIELD 6 – IONA 5
The Stags were the first to strike in game number two; it was Cynthia Meringer who singled on a full-count offering from junior
Marnie Skinner to open the scoring. Fairfield's rally for the first run began with two outs; they strung together three straight singles to make it 1-0.
The fourth inning would provide some controversy, much to the dismay of the Maroon & Gold faithful. What seemed to be a heads-up play by Meray to cut down a runner trying to score on a ground ball on the infield for the second out, turned into an infield single to load the bases with no out being recorded because of an obstruction call. Skinner would get Fairfield's pinch-hitter to ground out for the second out of the frame, but Amanda Ulzheimer plated two more runners with a single through the box to give the visitors a 4-0 advantage.
The bottom of the fifth inning looked like it was going to be a quick one after Kudlacik retired the first two batters on nine pitches. Iona's offense clearly had other plans though, ripping off three hits with two outs and getting some help from a couple of Stag errors on the right side of the infield. Thompson's single back through the middle plated DiGuilio to tie the game at 4-4.
Fairfield showed off its resiliency in the seventh inning; the MVP of the day, Rhinehart, hit a two-run laser over the left centerfield fence to give the Stags a 6-4 lead.
Chiapparelli showed off her power stroke to lead off the bottom of the seventh, pinging a ball off the top of the centerfield fence and over the wall to cut the deficit to one run. Rhinehart entered in relief, looking for her first save of 2019. Meray singled and represented the tying run with nobody out. Rhinehart retire the next three batters without much of a threat and lock down the save and the sweep for Fairfield.
NOTABLE NUGGETS
- Chiapparelli's homerun was the second of her season and the 12thof her career.
- Chilcott and DiGuilio both extended their hitting streaks, recording hits in each of the two games this afternoon. Chilcott's streak is now at four and DiGuilio's stands at three.
- Meray has reached base five consecutive games, one behind the current team leader, Marisa Gergel, who has reached safely at least once in the previous six contests.
- Iona's defense made a season-high eight errors in game one vs. Fairfield. All six runs charged to Zazzaro were unearned. Nine of the 12 runs allowed by Iona pitching today were unearned.
- DiGuilio pitched one inning in relief of Zazzaro in game one; she allowed one hit and walked two over the course of a scoreless inning. Her ERA remains a perfect 0.00 on the season.
- Rhinehart and Westford were the steadiest of all Stag contributors today. Rhinehart got the win in game one, hit a go-ahead two-run shot in game two and locked down the save in game two. Westford was 5-8 at the plate and scored three runs.
UP NEXT
Iona will host its senior day festivities vs. Quinnipiac on Sunday, honoring
Hailey Thompson, Kimmie Chiapparelli and
Marisa Gergel before the 12:00 p.m. start at Donald E. Walsh Field.
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