MADEIRA BEACH, Fla. – The Leopard softball team received a strong pitching effort from Morrigan Gardiner to close out the spring trip on Tuesday afternoon vs. Iona. The sophomore struck out a career-high eight batters and pitched all seven innings in a game that ended in a 1-1 tie.
 
All of the scoring in the game came in the early innings. Iona got on the board in the second when Brooke Acker connected for an RBI-single off Gardiner. Gardiner limited the damage when she snared a hard ground ball up the middle to end the inning.
 
Sophomore Harlie Bickett got things going for the Leopards in the third inning, ripping a double to the gap in left centerfield. Senior Kaili Reitano did her job at the plate, flying out to right to push Bickett 60 feet closer. When freshman Kylee Sweet came to the plate, head coach Karavin Dew put on the bunt and Sweet delivered the sacrifice to knot the game at 1-1.
 
Gardiner continued to battle into the later innings, getting the final outs of the fourth and fifth innings via strikeout. She finished the day with 144 pitches. The Leopard defense was up to the challenge, as Reitano reeled in a liner to end the sixth and Bickett followed suit at the bottom of the seventh.
 
The game was called at the two-hour mark due to travel considerations that had been agreed prior to the game.
 
The Leopards finished with six hits, two by sophomore Paige Sandidge and one apiece from Bickett, Reitano, Sweet and Grace Hausmann.
 
Lafayette will have a couple of days off from game action before traveling to the Mount St. Mary's Tournament in Emmitsburg, Md., where the Leopards will play four games, two against Mount St. Mary's and two against Albany.