Lady Bears Remain Perfect at Home Sweeping Mount Saint Vincent

BELLEROSE, NY – After easily dismissing Mount Saint Vincent, 9-1 in game one, the St. Joseph's College softball team needed a late-inning rally to snap a 4-4 tie, defeating the Dolphins, 6-4, to remain perfect at home at Padavan-Preller Field on Wednesday afternoon.

After firing her second career perfect game on Monday, junior Alyson Chiaramonte (Staten Island, NY/Moore Catholic) earned both victories in the circle, going the distance in game one and entering in relief in game two, boosting her record to 6-0.

St. Joseph's bats were alive combining for 21 hits on the afternoon with seven Lady Bears picking at least two hits for the series. Millicia Malvasio (Brooklyn, NY/Bishop Kearney) recorded four hits and two runs and Jackie Marinello (Brooklyn, NY/Fontbonne Hall) collected four RBI, three hits, three runs and a double to pace the Lady Bears at the dish.

Emily Palmieri (Staten Island, NY/St. John's Villa), Alyson Chiaramonte (Staten Island, NY/Moore Catholic) and Caitlyn Kakavas (Bayside, NY/St. Agnes) also knocked three hits each with Palmieri scoring three times and roping two doubles.

Danielle Marino (Maspeth, NY/Mary Louis) had a solid all-around day scoring three runs and driving in the game winning RBI in game two. Defensively she was perfect in 16 chances with eight assists including two pickoffs and a runner caught stealing, playing behind the plate in the nightcap.

St. Joseph's improves to 7-3 on the season and earning their first sweep against the Dolphins since 2005. The Lady Bears continue their four doubleheader home stand on Saturday, April 2, facing York College at Padavan-Preller Field starting at 1 pm.

Game 1 – St. Joseph's 9, Mount Saint Vincent 1 - Box Score

The Dolphins scratched an unlikely first inning run against Chiaramonte, her second earned run all season. Chiaramonte gave up three hits and walk over the first two innings, but then settled in retiring the final nine batters and finishing with seven strikeouts.

Chiaramonte helped her own cause doubling in the first to score Marino and tie the game at 1-1. St. Joseph's took the lead for good when Kakavas followed with a single that brought home her batterymate.

The Lady Bears broke the game open with a five-run second inning, knocking out starting pitcher Joanna Makayan. The frame was highlighted by a two-run double by Marinello and a bases-clearing, three-run double by Lisa Scheer (Bayside, NY/Mary Louis).

In the home half of the fifth, the Lady Bears knocked four hits capped by a Jillian Troise (Brooklyn, NY/Bishop Kearney) single to center that brought home the final two runs needed to end the game.

Game 2 –St. Joseph's 6, Mount Saint Vincent 4 - Box Score

St. Joseph's knocked seven hits off starter Ashley Winn to jump out to an early 4-0 lead through two innings. In the top half of those innings, Marino kept Mount Saint Vincent at bay from behind the plate erasing all four Dolphin baserunners with two pickoffs at first and throwing out two runners at second.

The Dolphins scratched out solo runs in the third and fourth innings off starting pitcher Scheer, using early extra base hits to place runners in scoring position. St. Joseph's failed to plate any runs in the third inning, despite loading the bases with only one out.

In the fifth, Mount Saint Vincent knotted the game at 4-4 on a two-run triple by Makayan but St. Joseph's couldn't pull ahead in the bottom half of the frame, stranding a runner on third.

With daylight fleeing and the game past regulation, Coach Frank P. Carbone handed the ball to Chiaramonte to start the sixth who retired the side in order. The Lady Bears managed to break the tie in the bottom half of the sixth, with Marinello drawing a one-out walk followed by a Malvasio single to put runners at first and second. Marino then roped a single to left to bring home Marinello and a miscue by the leftfielder allowed Malvasio to score.

The two run cushion would be more than enough for Chiaramonte, who sealed the victory in four batters.