NEW ROCHELLE, NY – The Iona College softball team split its home-opening doubleheader with Fairfield on Tuesday afternoon.
Ciarra DiGuilio delivered a walk-off infield single in the bottom of the seventh of game one.
GAME ONE: (IONA 5, FAIRFIELD 4)
Kara Zazzaro made her fifth start of the season for the Maroon & Gold in game one, getting two strikeouts to work around a pair of walks in the opening frame. Fairfield's Lauryn Rhinehart retired the first nine batters she faced across the opening three innings at Donald E. Walsh Field.
Zazzaro escaped without any damage done in the top of the fourth, once again working around a pair of walks in the inning to strand two runners.
Jessica Chilcott was the first Gael to reach base against Rhinehart after Merino had trouble with a fly ball in the sun to start the home half of the fourth inning. Chilcott motored all the way around the bases, sliding safely into third to set Iona up nicely.
Natalia Meray cashed in for the Maroon & Gold immediately, singling up the middle and plating the game's first run.
DiGuilio started the rally again for the Gaels with one out, singling to short and pushing Meray to second. A base on balls for
Jasmine Temple loaded the bases. Rhinehart then walked in a run before striking out
Brianna Buck for the inning's second out.
Morgan Ritchey drew a bases-loaded, two-out walk to make it 3-0 in favor of Iona.
Maggie Foley got a good piece of one, but her liner was snagged by the second baseman to end the frame.
Fairfield's Sam Merino reached third with one out after a steal and a passed ball, but Zazzaro got back-to-back groundouts to strand her and keep Fairfield off the board. The Stags waited patiently for their moment and Mikayla Rubin delivered in a big way in the top of the seventh. Down to their final out, the Stags loaded the bases on an Ortman single and Rubin cleared the fence, and the bases, with a grand slam off of Zazzaro to put Fairfield in front, 4-3.
Facing a deficit for the first time in the game, Iona was now three outs away from a second straight loss. Chilcott came through in the clutch for the Maroon & Gold, poking one over the fence in left center to tie the game at four. Meray then pulled a double into the left-centerfield gap to chase Rhinehart from the game. Sam Lindsay entered, getting
Kaelene Walter to ground out for the second out. Meray moved up 60 feet though and would come around to score on DiGuilio's swinging bunt that turned into the game-winning hit.
GAME TWO: (FAIRFIELD 5, IONA 2)
Alyssa DeJianne drew the start for the Gaels in game two. The freshman held her own over the first four innings of the game before running into some trouble in the fifth. DeJianne was graced with a 2-0 lead after Temple swatted a two-run homer, her first of the season, in the bottom of the fourth. The round tripper plated Walter, who reached on an error to lead off the inning.
12 Stags came to the plate in the top of the fifth and Iona used three different pitchers in the inning. Fairfield did all of its damage with two outs in the frame. A two-out walk put runners on first and second, followed by a pair of singles that tied the game at two and chased DeJianne. DiGuilio entered in relief, making her third appearance of the season. DiGuilio faced two batters, allowing a hit and offering a free pass before giving way to Zazzaro. The two runners that DiGuilio inherited came around to score and gave the Stags a 4-2 lead. Zazzaro walked the first batter that she faced to load the bases and then walked in a run to make it 5-2. She finished the inning with a strikeout, but not before the Stags grabbed a three-run lead.
The Gaels had a chance to cut into the Fairfield lead, but Walter was retired via the strikeout with runners on second and third to end the bottom of the fifth. Iona stranded two more runners in scoring position in the bottom of the sixth and were set down in order by Allie Bridgman in the bottom of the seventh to end the game.
NOTABLE NUGGETS
- Zazzaro moved to 6-1 on the season with the win in the opener and 4-0 in games that she has started. The junior has entered in relief for the third time this season.
- Temple mashed her first homerun of the season in game two to get the scoring started. The round tripper was the 17th of her career.
- Chilcott extended her hit streak to nine games with a base hit in the opener, but was hitless in the second game. Her homer in game one was her team-leading fifth bomb of the year.
- Meray finished the doubleheader 3-7 at the plate with a pair of RBI.
- Neither of DiGuilio's two hits in game one left the infield, but she still managed to bring home the game-winning run with her hit in the bottom of the seventh.
- Iona pitchers walked eight batters in game two. Offensively, the Gaels left six runners on base in game two, five of which were in scoring position.
AROUND THE MAAC
- Manhattan swept Quinnipiac in Riverdale. The Jaspers won 10-1 in six innings in game one and then completed the sweep with a 4-2 victory in the nightcap.
UP NEXT
Iona and Fairfield are scheduled to face off in another doubleheader on Tuesday, April 6 in Connecticut. The Gaels and the Hawks were scheduled to play this weekend, but the doubleheaders were postponed due to COVID-19 issues within the Monmouth program.
SOCIAL MEDIA
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