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NEW ROCHELLE — The Niagara softball team returned to game action for the first time since March 19 on Saturday, opening MAAC play with a road doubleheader against the Iona Gaels. Niagara held a 4-2 lead late in the first game before Iona rallied in the bottom of the sixth to send Niagara to a 5-4 loss. The Gaels then struck early and often as Niagara fell 6-1 to close the afternoon.
GAME #1: Iona 5, Niagara 4
Niagara opened the scoring by taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning. With runners on first and second after Bridget Hogan and Jerri Ann Orfano walked, Maria Gabriele sent a double to left center to bring Hogan home. Iona was able to tie the game by opening the bottom of the third with a leadoff single and an RBI triple, taking a 2-1 lead on a double to left field with two outs. Niagara stayed within one after four innings. Iona was threatening to score with a runner on third and two outs in the bottom of the fourth, but Sierra Bertrand picked up the strikeout to get out of the inning. After Hogan walked in the top of the fifth, Orfano returned the lead to the Purple Eagles, making it 3-2 with a home run to right field. With two outs in the inning, Niagara had a chance to extend the lead with the bases loaded, but Jennifer Timm flied out to center field. With two outs in the top of the sixth, Orfano earned her third RBI of the game, bringing home Sarah March from third on a single to right field, making it 4-2 Niagara. Iona scored three runs with two outs in the bottom of the sixth to take the 5-4 lead. Kimberly Chiapparelli was able to tie the game with a two-run home run before Marisa Gergel scored the eventual game-winning run on a bases-loaded single. Maria Gabriele, who went 3-for-3 in the first game of the doubleheader, walked to lead off the top of the seventh, but Iona struck out three straight batters to close out a 5-4 final. Bertrand pitched the complete game and struck out five batters in six innings, allowing five earned runs on eight hits.
GAME #2: Iona 6, Niagara 1
After a scoreless top of the first for Niagara, Iona picked up a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the inning. After a dropped third strike on a strikeout from Jennifer Szilagyi that prolonged the inning, Iona got a bases-loaded, two-run double to right field to open the scoring. Taylor Moody doubled down the left field line in the second inning to put runners on second and third, but the Gaels held the Purple Eagles off the board. Niagara forced Iona into three groundouts to go three up, three down in the bottom of the second. Sarah March picked up Niagara’s only hit in the third inning with a triple down the right field line. In the bottom of the third with the bases loaded, Szilagyi threw out an Iona baserunner at home plate to keep the deficit at two. Iona pushed the lead to 6-0 after five innings of play before Niagara got on the board in the top of the sixth. Bridget Hogan led off the inning with a double and advanced to third on a single by Jerri Ann Orfano. Kendall Watkins grounded out to shortstop but picked up the RBI as Hogan reached home. Chanelle Ward picked up a single for Niagara in the top of the seventh, but that was all the Purple Eagles would get as Iona closed out the 6-1 decision. Ward went 2-for-4 at the plate in the afternoon’s second game. Szilagyi gave up six runs (four earned) on 10 hits while striking out two batters in four innings. Emily Johnston pitched two hitless innings of relief and picked up three strikeouts.
Niagara heads to Fairfield for a 12 p.m. doubleheader with the Stags on Sunday before returning home. The Purple Eagles open their 2017 home schedule with a doubleheader against the Youngstown State Penguins starting at 3 p.m. on Wednesday.
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