STONY BROOK, NY - The Iona University softball team fell to Stony Brook, 9-1, in five innings on Tuesday afternoon at University Field.
Jamie Sheeran hit her 14th home run of the season, setting a new program single-season record.
GAME SUMMARY
Iona's lone run and its first of four hits on a Tuesday afternoon on Long Island was one for the record books. Jamie Sheeran homered to centerfield, a solo shot to open the scoring, the 14th of her junior season. The bomb helped Sheeran surpass Alyssa Maiese (2011) for the most home runs in a single season in program history.
Dani Beckham started for Iona and after retiring the first batter she faced, allowed a game-tying homer to the second Seawolves' batter. She would set down the next two hitters to keep the score tied at one apiece.
Brooke Acker opened the second inning with an opposite-field double and after Destiny Nardello was hit by a pitch, the Gaels had a prime opportunity to add some more runs. Stony Brook's Melaas would retire the next three Iona hitters to strand a pair of runners. After a 1-2-3 second inning for Beckham, the freshman would run into trouble in the third and see her afternoon in the circle come to a conclusion.
With two outs and runners on first and second, Beckham surrendered a double that plated the go-ahead run followed by an error in the infield that allowed two unearned runs to score. Another single would put runners on the corner and force head coach Alyssa Tiumalu to go to her bullpen in the third inning. Alyssa DeJianne entered and induced a fly ball to centerfield that ended the inning, but not before Stony Brook took a 4-1 lead.
The Seawolves added a fifth run in the fourth inning on a sacrifice fly, though DeJianne would strand two more runners to end the frame and keep Iona within striking distance. A one-out single by Sheeran was followed by a base on balls drawn by Kenadie Gonzalez, but a fly-out and a strikeout left a pair of runners on base for the Maroon & Gold to end the fifth inning.
It would end up being Iona's final turn at-bat after a pair of two-run homers in the bottom of the fifth enacted the mercy rule and sent the Gaels back to New Rochelle with a 9-1 loss.
UP NEXT
Iona continues on the road this weekend, facing Fairfield (April 22) and Quinnipiac (April 23) in a pair of doubleheaders. The Gaels are in the midst of a stretch of 11 consecutive games played on the road, which will come to a close when the Maroon & Gold host Saint Peter's on Sunday, April 30.
SOCIAL MEDIA
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