NEW ROCHELLE, NY - The Iona University softball team split a pair of games with Mount St. Mary's on Monday afternoon at Donald E. Walsh Field. Freshman
Hannah Werth delivered the game-winning hit in the ninth inning of game one; a four-run rally in the eighth helped the Mount salvage game two in New Rochelle.
GAME ONE: IONA 3, MOUNT ST. MARY'S 2 (9 INN.)
The Mount got the scoring started early on Monday, pushing across a run in the first frame against Kara Zazzaro. A two-out walk brought Kaia Bonshock to the dish, who singled up the middle to plate the first run of the day.
Zazzaro dominated after allowing the first inning run, striking out the side in both the second and fourth innings and punching out a pair in the third. Her counterpart, Avery Neuhart, was equally as impressive despite not racking up similar strikeout totals. Neuhart was very efficient and her defense behind her was up to par in helping keep Iona off the board.
The Mount added an insurance marker in the fifth against Zazzaro when Abigayle Perry brought home Mariah Godde with a single through the left side of the infield. Neuhart protected the two-run advantage in the home half of the fifth, retiring the side in order. Iona would finally break through in the sixth, however.
Jamie Sheeran doubled into the gap to bring home Jessica Chilcott with Iona's first run. After Neuhart got Flukey to bounce out for the second out of the inning, Iona's underclassmen came up clutch. Brianna Bailey singled to the opposite field to plate pinch runner Haley Weaver with the tying run. Kenadie Gonzalez followed with a single that chased Neuhart from the game. Maddie Coleman kept the contest tied by retiring the first batter she faced out of the pen.
In the bottom of the ninth, Hannah Werth looped a ball down the left field line that skipped away from the charging left fielder that allowed Gonzalez to come home with the game-winning run.
GAME TWO: MOUNT ST. MARY'S 8, IONA 4 (8 INN.)
Alyssa DeJianne was tagged for a pair of runs in the second inning of game two, seeing the Mount open the scoring again. DeJianne impressively worked out of a jam in the first inning, catching an attempted squeeze bunt and firing to third to complete an inning-ending double play.
Iona's offense responded in support of DeJianne in the third, scoring three runs to take the lead. A pair of ground-rule doubles from Chilcott and Gonzalez plated a run each, with a Kaylin Flukey run-scoring single sandwiched between. The Mount tied things up once more in the fourth inning and then retook the lead in the fifth.
Trailing by one in the sixth with one out, Alivia Lichtner laced a ball into the right-center gap, but was cut down trying to extend the double into a triple. The next batter was Werth, who smacked the first homer of her collegiate career, a shot to right that tied the game at 4-4.
After a scoreless seventh inning, Samantha Rieb was tagged for four runs in the eighth inning. The big blow was an opposite-field, three-run homer by Vanessa Martin that cleared the wall after bouncing off the top. The four runs were good enough for the Mount to win game two.
UP NEXT
Iona returns to action on Wednesday, April 5 at St. John's. The Gaels and the Red Storm play a mid-week contest in Queens beginning at 3:00 p.m. on ESPN3.
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