Lady Bears Drop Another One-Run Decision in Florida Trip

CAPE CORAL, FL – The St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) softball team found themselves on the wrong end of a another one-run game, falling 2-1 to Curry College in their second game of the day at the Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic.  In their first game the Lady Bears fell to St. Lawrence University, 5-0.

Game 1 – St. Lawrence 5, St. Joseph's 0

St. Lawrence got on the board first in the third inning when Leslie Stratton delivered a one-out RBI double to go up 1-0.  That would be all the Saints would need as starter Kyle Plimpton silenced the Lady Bears' bats recording 17 strikeouts and scattering two hits.

The Saints tacked on three runs in the fourth and one more in the fifth touching up starter Lisa Scheer (Bayside, NY/Mary Louis) for five of their eight hits in the game in the final three innings.

The Lady Bears threatened to get on the board in the fourth after senior Caitlyn Kakavas (Bayside, NY/St. Agnes) made the first solid contact off Plimpton driving a ball that landed just short of the left field fence and bounced over for a two-out ground rule double. Kakavas proceeded to steal third, but the Lady Bears couldn't bring her home.

In the following inning with one-out, freshman Cassandra Molinari (Brooklyn, NY/St. Edmund Prep) belted a ball to the left center fence for a double and her first collegiate hit, but the Lady Bears couldn't advance her any further.

Scheer went the distance in the circle for St. Joseph's and struck out eight.

Game 2 – Curry 2, St. Joseph's 1

Both teams met for the second straight year at the Gene Cusic Classic and Curry would come out on top again edging out the Lady Bears in a battle of two evenly matched teams.

Through three innings, Millicia Malvasio's (Brooklyn, NY/Bishop Kearney) single up the middle to lead off the first would be the only baserunner for either teams as both defenses played near flawless ball.

The Lady Bears struck first in the fourth inning with Kakavas delivering another clutch two-out RBI, scoring Mabel Vargas (Queens, NY/Mary Louis) who led the frame off with a single and advanced to second on a Scheer sacrifice bunt.

But Curry responded in the bottom half of the frame and the Lady Bears defense had its first misstep of the game on a dropped fly ball that allowed Amanda Felzmann to reach second and extended the inning.  After Felzmann advanced to third, Alyson Chiaramonte (Staten Island, NY/Moore Catholic) made a great defensive play to catch her off the bag on a ground out, but later in the inning Heather Carrier knocked a two-out, two-run single that would prove to be the difference.

In the sixth inning, the Lady Bears threatened to tie after Vargas hit her second single of the game and advanced to second on a Scheer grounder but would remain stranded after two more groundouts and the Lady Bears couldn't get any baserunners on in the final inning.

Chiaramonte went the distance in the circle, striking out two, surrendering only four hits and both runs coming unearned.

St. Joseph's will seek their first win of the season and conclude their Florida trip with a set of games against University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh and Hendrix College on Sunday, March 18th starting at 9 am.