Chiaramonte's Blast, 12th Shutout Leads Lady Bears Past Briarcliffe

PATCHOGUE, NY – Senior Alyson Chiaramonte (Staten Island, NY/Moore Catholic) blasted a three-run home run in that lifted the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) softball team to a 3-0 victory over rivals Briarcliffe College on Saturday afternoon at the SJC Outdoor complex.

Both squads met for a single-game tune-up for the USCAA National Championship. Briarcliffe enters as the #5 seed and St. Joseph's (26-10) as the #6 seed when play begins on Tuesday at Firestone Stadium in Akron, OH.

Chiaramonte (17-6) also notched the victory in the circle striking out nine en route to a complete-game, two-hit shutout, her 12th of the season. 

Briarcliffe opened the game with back-to-back singles and went on to load the bases with only one out, but Chiaramonte calmly worked out of the inning unscathed with a strikeout and grounder.

Chiaramonte responded in the bottom half of the inning with her fourth home run of the season, bringing home Danielle Marino (Maspeth, NY/Mary Louis) who knocked a double and Lisa Scheer (Bayside, NY/Mary Louis) was hit by a pitch.

Both teams would work near perfect innings in the second, third, fourth and fifth frames, a Cassandra Molinari (Brooklyn, NY/St. Edmund Prep) double in the second the only hit between the two squads.

The Lady Bears assembled another threat in the sixth loading the bases but unable to tack on any additional runs.  Scheer led off with a single and Caitlyn Kakavas (Bayside, NY/St. Agnes) later knocked a single, extending her hitting streak to 12 games. 

In the seventh, the Bulldogs got their first baserunner since the opening frame with their leadoff batter reaching on an error. Chiaramonte later issued her second walk of the game to bring the tying run to the plate, but Chiaramonte shut down the threat and sealed the win.

St. Joseph's heads to Akron, Ohio to make their fourth straight appearance in the USCAA Softball National Championships. The Lady Bears face #3 Spalding University (27-12) in the first round on Tuesday, May 15th at 4 pm. Fans can follow the Lady Bears tournament run with live video and stats from www.sjcbears.com.