WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ - The Iona College softball team swept the Monmouth Hawks to begin Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play Saturday afternoon. The Gaels offense hit four home runs across the two games and
Kara Zazzaro and
Samantha Rieb both threw complete game shutouts to help Iona sweep the season series with Monmouth for the first time in program history.
GAME ONE: IONA 8, MONMOUTH 0
It's hard to start a day any better than Iona softball did on Saturday. The Gaels hit three home runs in the first inning, notching an early 4-0 lead before Monmouth sent a batter to the plate. Jamie Sheeran put one out to start the barrage, then Jessica Chilcott followed Natalia Meray's single with a long ball of her own. Both Sheeran and Chilcott homered on the first pitches they saw from Monmouth's Kylie Gletow, who exited after Kaylin Flukey took her yard to make it 4-0 with just one out. Billie Kerwood entered in relief and stopped the bleeding with a pair of strikeouts.
Kara Zazzaro, making her twelfth start of the season, made quick work of the Hawks in the home half of the first inning. She struck out the side in the opening frame, then punched out the first two batters she faced in the second. In her first time through the Monmouth batting order, Zazzaro set down seven Hawks on strikes and did not allow a base runner.
Monmouth's first, and eventually only, hit of the afternoon came off the bat of Francesca Torraca. A walk and a wild pitch would put two runners in scoring position with one out against Zazzaro, but she registered strikeouts number nine and ten to keep the shutout intact.
Iona padded its lead in the fifth thanks to some defensive miscues from Monmouth. Sheeran and Meray strung together back-to-back one-out singles and eventually came around to score on back-to-back fielding errors in the infield. Kayla Haywood cashed in with another insurance run with a two-out single to left that scored Flukey and made it 7-0 in favor of the Maroon & Gold.
After a 1-2-3 bottom of the fifth, Iona added its eighth run of the day in the top of the sixth. The Hawks put two runners on against Zazzaro in the bottom of the sixth, but they could not scratch across a run to save themselves from the six-inning mercy rule. Iona took the MAAC opener over Monmouth, 8-0, in six innings at MU Softball Park.
GAME TWO: IONA 1, MONMOUTH 0
Iona's offense struggled in game two, putting just one runner on base via a free pass the first time through the order. Rieb worked through a pair of jams in the first and second innings, stranding two runners in each frame. She did it once more in the fourth and sent the offense back out in search of its first hit of the second game.
Chilcott found that first hit for Iona leading off the fifth. After Flukey went down on strikes, Emma Capuano followed suit with a single into center to move Chilcott into scoring position. Kylie Gletow got out of the inning by retiring Morgan Ritchey and Haywood.
An error in the infield in the bottom of the fifth kept the inning alive for Monmouth and put runners on first and second with two away. The Hawks finally got the hit they needed with a runner in scoring position, but a wide turn at third base resulted in the runner being tagged out and ending the inning without a run crossing.
A bunt single and a passed ball put Allie Taylor in scoring position with one out in the sixth, but for the second straight inning the Gaels could not convert. Gletow got Sheeran to pop up and Meray's sharply hit ball to short was handled and retired the side.
After Rieb handled her business in the home half, Iona struck. Chilcott led the seventh inning off with her second long ball of the day. She put one over the fence in left on the first pitch she saw, giving the Maroon & Gold a lead in the final frame. Rieb took to the circle in search of her first career shutout, finishing the job by retiring the final two batters to strand the tying and winning runs on base.
NOTABLE NUGGETS
- Iona sweeps the season series with Monmouth for the first time since the Hawks joined the conference in 2014. The Gaels have now won three straight over Monmouth and four of the last five contests.
- Zazzaro set down 14 batters via the strikeout in game one, two shy of her season best mark. She surrendered just one hit and walked three batters. The shutout was Zazzaro's first this season and the ninth of her career, moving her into a three-way tie with Joanne Constantini and Alyssa Maiese for seventh most in program history.
- The Gaels hit three home runs in a game for the second time this season. All three long balls, hit by Chilcott, Flukey and Sheeran, left the yard in the first inning.
- Rieb tossed the first shutout of her career in game two, scattering 10 hits and striking out one batter. Iona's staff registered back-to-back shutouts for the first time since 2019.
- Chilcott, who hit homers in each game, is now tied with Sheeran (5) for the team lead in bombs. Chilcott's solo shot in the top of the seventh of game two accounted for the only run in the night cap.
- Meray and Sheeran both registered multi-hit games in the opener. Sheeran's six multi-hit contests this season are a team high; Meray sits right behind her with four of her own in 2022 thus far. Chilcott added a pair of hits in game two, her fourth multi-hit effort of the year.
- Both Chilcott and Sheeran notched their team-leading third multi-RBI games with a pair of runs batted in during Iona's 8-0 game one win.
AROUND THE MAAC
- Rider swept Fairfield with a pair of shutouts. The Broncs won game one 1-0 in eight innings and earned an 8-0 victory in the nightcap.
- Niagara took two from Marist on Saturday, opening league play with a sweep of the Red Foxes in Lewiston.
- Siena toppled Saint Peter's 5-0 in game one and 8-1 in game two to secure a pair of wins on Saturday.
- Canisius shutout Quinnipiac 10-0 in game one of two on Saturday. The second game between the Griffs and Bobcats just got started at the time of this release.
- Manhattan fell to Seton Hall 1-0 in game one of a non-conference doubleheader. The nightcap between the Pirates and Jaspers was still underway at the time of this release.
UP NEXT
Iona and Rider's doubleheader originally scheduled for Sunday, April 3 will now be played on Monday, April 4.
SOCIAL MEDIA
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