Lady Bears Conclude Puerto Rico Trip Splitting With Turabo

CAGUAS, PUERTO RICO – Senior Alyson Chiaramonte (Staten Island, NY/Moore Catholic) tossed her second straight complete game shutout leading the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) softball team to a 3-0 win over the Universidad del Turabo on Thursday evening. The Lady Bears split the series dropping a 2-0 decision in a defensive battle in game two.

With the victory, the Lady Bears improve to 8-6 and extend their win streak to eight games, the second game ruled again an exhibition.  St. Joseph's returns home with wins over the top two collegiate teams in Puerto Rico -- Universidad Metropolitana the number one team and the defending league champions and Turabo the number two squad and last year's runner-up.

After both sides were retired in order in the first inning, St. Joseph's got on the board first in the second when Chiaramonte led off with a single, was sacrificed to second and scored on a Cassandra Molinari (Brooklyn, NY/St. Edmund Prep) RBI single up the middle.  Turabo knocked back-to-back two-out singles in the bottom half of the inning, but Chiaramonte ended the threat in forcing a popup to the infield.

The score remained 1-0 until the Lady Bears tacked on two insurance runs in the top half of the seventh loading the bases and Mabel Vargas (Queens, NY/Mary Louis) knocking a single up the middle that scored Megan Moran (Syosset, NY/St. Dominic's) and Jackie Perillo (Howard Beach, NY/Archbishop Molloy).  The Lady Bears loaded the bases again and nearly broke the game open again with a line drive from Chiaramonte, but it went right to the Turabo third baseman who stepped on the bag for the inning-ending double play

The three-run lead was more than enough for Chiaramonte, who allowed a single, but sealed the victory with a groundout and her sixth strikeout.   Chiaramonte (6-3) finished her second straight shutout, surrendering just four hits and walking none.  Over her three starts for the trip, Chiaramonte allowed only one unearned run and had 19 strikeouts.

Despite receiving a strong four-hit outing from Lisa Scheer (Bayside, NY/Mary Louis) in the nightcap, the Lady Bears were kept off the board by one of the top pitchers on the island who tossed six perfect innings in a combined no-hitter.

Some bad luck struck the Lady Bears in the first inning when Chiaramonte, now playing left field, and Millicia Malvasio (Brooklyn, NY/Bishop Kearney) collided in the outfield chasing a ball down the left field line on the very first Turabo batter.  Yaneslee Maldonado ended up with a double and would later score as Turabo posted two runs in the inning, which ended up being the only scoring in the contest.

Both Chiaramonte and Malvasio were taken out of the game as a precautionary measure and didn't sustain any major injuries.  Despite their absence in the field, the Lady Bears were solid defensively and Scheer held Turabo to only two hits on the final two innings to keep the game within reach.  Scheer struck out two and had four walks in a losing effort.

St. Joseph's returns home on Friday and has a quick turnaround facing SUNY Canton on Saturday, April 7th. The single game is a late addition to the schedule and will take place at Padavan-Preller Field with first-pitch slated for 4:30 p.m.