Lady Bears Softball Swept by Sibling Rivals St. Joseph's (L.I.)

PATCHOGUE, N.Y. – The St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) dropped both ends of a doubleheader against sister campus St. Joseph's College (Long Island), falling 6-4 and 11-0 in five innings on Thursday evening at the SJC Outdoor Complex.

The Lady Bears (14-15-1) are swept for the first time in four doubleheader meetings by the Golden Eagles (25-19)

In the opener, the Lady Bears held one run leads after the first and second innings and the game was tied 4-4 through three innings before the Golden Eagles posted solo runs in the fourth and sixth frames for the difference.

The Golden Eagles used a big eight-run first inning in the nightcap and rode a combined two-hit effort from their hurlers to cruise to victory.

Senior Danielle Marino (Maspeth, NY/Mary Louis) collected a pair of hits, the only Lady Bear with multiple hits over the twin bill, and drove in a run with a double. Sophomore Cassandra Molinari (Brooklyn, NY/St. Edmund Prep) also belted an RBI double, walked and scored twice.

Turning Points – Game 1

The Lady Bears took advantage of walks in the first and second innings, scoring solo runs in each frame pull ahead 2-1 through two, before the top of the Golden Eagle lineup posted three runs in the third highlighted by a Casey Thomas two-out, two-run single. But Brooklyn didn't back down as the top of the lineup knocked three straight hits and back-to-back RBI doubles from Moliari and Marino knotted the game at 4-4.

In the fifth, Long Island scored pushing across an unearned run on a Lindsey Corriss double, which proved to be the difference, and threatened for more, but the Lady Bears worked out of a bases loaded jam with a 1-2-3 double play to end the inning.

Turning Points – Game 2

A fateful first inning that saw the Golden Eagles post eight-runs, all scoring with two outs, proved to be too large of a deficit to overcome. Five of the runs scored unearned as a result of a two out error with the bases loaded that extended the inning and the Golden Eagles made the most of four free passes issued in the inning.

Inside the Box Score

• The Golden Eagles drove in 13 of their 17 runs with two outs, batting 13-for-26 (.500) with two outs.
• The Lady Bears committed just one error in the nightcap, but it led to five unearned runs in the fateful first inning.
• Molinari, Marino and Millicia Malvasio picked up the RBI for the Lady Bears in game one and Marino led the way with two hits in the opener.
• Mabel Vargas and Andrea Sideli knocked the lone hits for the Lady Bears in the two-hit shutout in the nightcap.
• Vargas (5-1) took the loss in game one (7 IP, 13 H, 4 ER, 1 K, 1 BB), while Jackie Perillo (7-5) suffered the loss in the nightcap (4.2 IP, 10 H, 6 ER, 7 BB) 

News and Notes

• With the doubleheader sweep, Long Island takes a 7-5 edge in the all-time series. Both teams split the last three twin bill meetings.
• Vargas saw her reached base safely streak snapped in the opener at a team-best 16 games.

Next Up for the Lady Bears – Senior Day!

The Lady Bears conclude their regular season with Senior Day versus Briarcliffe, on Saturday, May 4th honoring Danielle Marino, Mabel Vargas, Millicia Malvasio, Andrea Sideli and Teresa Mangan. First pitch is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. at the SJC Outdoor Complex in Patchogue. The doubleheader will be preceded by an Alumni Game starting at 10:30 am. Live video and stats will be available on SJCBears.com with updates on Twitter via @SJCBears.