Big Green Sweep First Day of Aggie Spring Swing Invitational

Friday, March 25

Davis, Calif.

2:00 PM

Dartmouth College

8-8

Iona

5-15

Dartmouth

Iona

Big Green Sweep First Day of Aggie Spring Swing Invitational

3/25/2016 7:06:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Dartmouth

DAVIS, Calif. – The Dartmouth softball team defeated Iona 6-4 in extra innings, before taking down Pacific 2-1 in the first two games of the Aggie Spring Swing Invitational on Friday.

The Big Green are now 9-8, while the Gaels fall to 5-16 and the Tigers dip to 14-12.

In game one Dartmouth squared off with Iona for the third and final time this season, which lived up to the team's past two meetings.

With the scored tied 4-4 in the top of the eight, sophomore Tiffany Dyson was placed on second to start the inning. Senior Kelsey Miller led off with a walk and advanced to second on a throwing error, while Dyson headed for third. Iona's pitcher threw the ball away in an attempt to throw to second which allowed Miller and Dyson to score the game-winning runs.

Freshman Lauren Stone got her fourth start in the circle for the Big Green and went five innings, surrendering just three earned runs to improve to 1-2.

The Gaels struck first when Christine Costello homered to left field with two outs, giving Iona the early 1-0 lead. After a scoreless second inning, Dartmouth tacked on three runs to take a 3-1 lead. With one out, freshman Taylor Ward was hit by a pitch and scored when Senior Katie McEachern hit a double to center field.

McEachern eventually scored when Gaels' pitcher Jordan Courage walked junior Karen Chaw with the bases loaded. Lourlin Lara scored the third run of the inning for the Big Green when she reached home on an error by the catcher.

Iona would not go away quietly. Courage led off with a single up the middle, as Allyne Clark reached base on a fielding error. Both were driven home when Marisa Gergel singled to tie the game at 3-3. The Gaels retook the lead when Kristen Turner hit a two-out double to left field, scoring Gergel, giving Iona a 4-3 advantage.

After a couple of scoreless innings, Dartmouth tied the game when freshman Miranda Greig knocked in her first career homerun to left-center.

Senior Morgan McCalmon came into pitch for Stone in the sixth and struck out the side. The Norman, Oklahoma native remained perfect in the seventh striking out three more batters to send the game in to extra innings, as she earned the save.

In the second game, the Big Green took on Pacific with sophomore Breanna Ethridge in the circle for Dartmouth, while the Tigers' Marissa Young got the start. The Big Green got after it early in the first inning when McEachern led the game off with a single to right. Lara followed up with a single of her own, however later in the inning both Lara and Ethridge were thrown out at the plate as each tried to score on a fielder's choice.

With two outs, Dyson singled to left field to drive in Maddie Damore and Greig to give Dartmouth the 1-0 lead. Pacific was held to just one hit until the fourth when Haylee Moran-Rowen led the inning off with a double down the left field line. On the next play, Nicole Zapotoczny singled, as Moran-Rowen scored all the way from second base on an error to cut the Big Green's advantage to 2-1.

After a scoreless fifth, McCalmon came into pitch in relief shutting down any chance for a Tigers' comeback. In the seventh, Pacific hit into a double-play as a runner slide off the bag and was tagged for the final out of the game.

Dartmouth returns to the diamond tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. to face the Tigers before taking on the host school, UC Davis at 4:15 p.m.