The Iona College softball team took three wins at the UMBC Retriever Classic held in Baltimore, Mld. this past weekend.

Against James Madison, the Gaels took two runs in the third inning. Freshman Brianna Schauer began the inning with a walk and senior Melanie Hay took over for the pinch run.

After seniors Chelsea Sheehan and Deanne Algeo got on base, all the bases were loaded for senior Alyssa Maiese, who took a walk to bring in the first run.

Junior Eileen McCann then drove in the second run of the game with an RBI groundout. She then took the last run when Maiese drove her in for a run scoring single.

Senior Sarah Jackson allowed three hits and two walks in seven innings.

For the second win of the day, the Gaels were up against Coppin State. Freshman Carly Argyle led off the game and scored after a groundout by senior Allyssa James.

In the fifth inning freshman Brianna Schauer took the final run of the game. Maise allowed only two hits and two walks, while striking out eight in five innings.

On the second day of the tournament, Iona took a win against the UMBC Retrievers in eight innings resulting with a 10-4 win. The Gaels scored their first two runs in the top of the second inning starting with sophomore Katie Jansson’s double to left center right before James singled leaving runners on the corners. James then stole second base and Schauer singled through the left side to bring in two runs. The Retrievers came back, however, in the bottom half of the inning to make it 4-2.

In the sixth inning, Iona added a run after Maise started the inning by singling to the right and Hay pinch ran for her. After an error, Hay was moved to third and James drove her in with a single to make the score 4-3.

McCann pinch hit in the seventh inning and doubled through the right side. Junior Jodi Peterson tied the game with her single leading the Gaels to extra innings. In the eighth inning, Iona came out strong and had a total of six runs. Megan Sakowski was on second at the top of the eighth and Maiese led off the Gaels creating an opportunity for Sakowski with a double to the right side. James then reached on an error, while Maiese was on third which lead to another run for Iona.

Petersen was up with the bases loaded, reached on an error to score James and Schauer. Senior Chelsea Sheehan followed and singled to left field scoring Petersen and junior Beth Kann.

Maiese played great for the Gaels, striking out six and allowing only one hit and one walk in 3.2 innings of relief. Argyle held up allowing two hits and two walks in 1.1 innings, while starter Jackson allowed four runs in three innings.

After the exciting first game, the Gaels took on James Madison and Petersen led the start of the second game with a single before Sheehan pushed her forward with a bunt. Petersen scored on a wild pitch with two outs followed by Maiese’s first home run of the season to create a 2-0 lead for the Gaels.

The Dukes came back and took the lead in the third inning with five runs, and scored three more in the fourth. Iona came back and put five runs in the fifth inning. The Gaels were able to chop the lead down to 8-7, but unfortunately Iona did not score any in the sixth and the game was called due to visibility.

The Gaels also played Princeton and lost 5-2. Maiese and Sheehan were named to the All-Tournament Team.