Lady Bears Bypass York, Extend Win Streak to Six

BELLEROSE, NY – The St. Joseph's College softball kept their perfect home record intact sweeping York College 8-0 and 10-1 on Saturday afternoon at Padavan-Preller Fields, both games ending in five innings. The Lady Bears improve to 9-3 on the season and are now 9-0 all-time vs. York.

Alyson Chiaramonte (Staten Island, NY/Moore Catholic) and Lisa Scheer (Bayside, NY/Mary Louis) each notched complete game victories in the circle, boosting their records to 7-0 and 2-3, respectively. Both also helped their own causes, with Chiaramonte knocking three hits, scoring a trio of runs with an RBI and Scheer knocking two hits with three runs scored and an RBI.

Caitlyn Kakavas (Bayside, NY/St. Agnes) had a solid day collecting a team-leading four RBI and team-high tying three hits, three runs scored. Fellow catcher Danielle Marino (Maspeth, NY/Mary Louis) hit her first career home run highlighting a two hit afternoon with three runs.

Lauren Norris (Sunnyside, NY/Long Island City) also picked up a pair of hits, runs scored and RBI. Christina Quintana (Brooklyn, NY/St. Edmunds) went 2-for-2 on the day with an RBI.

St. Joseph's returns to action on Sunday, April 3 concluding their four doubleheader home stand.  The #6 Lady Bears host USCAA rivals #19 Briarcliffe College in a rematch of last year's third place game at the USCAA National Championships, where the Lady Bears prevailed 1-0 in a walk-off thriller. Four of the last five meetings have been decided by one run. First pitch is at 1 p.m. at Padavan-Preller Field.

Game 1 – St. Joseph's 8, York 0 (5 inn) – Box Score

St. Joseph's got out to a fast start out of the gates with Marino sending a drive past the centerfielder for an inside the park home run, giving the Lady Bears a 1-0 lead. That would all Chiaramonte would need, as she surrendered only three hits and struck out 10, her second time this season with double-digit K's.

The Lady Bears tacked on three runs in the second on back-to-back sacrifice flies from Norris and Jackie Marinello (Brooklyn, NY/Fontbonne Hall) and a RBI single by Scheer, but York escaped further damage, throwing out Marino at the plate to end the inning on a good relay from the outfield.

A deep drive by Kakavas in the third that nearly became the first home run over the wall at Preller brought in the first of two runs in the third as she later scored on a great squeeze bunt laid down by Megan Moran (Syosset, NY/St. Dominic's) that pushed the lead to 6-0. St. Joseph's added solo runs in the fourth and fifth to seal the victory.

Game 2 – St. Joseph's 10, York 1 (5 inn) – Box Score

The Cardinals scored first after two early hits off Scheer, however the run came unearned as a result of a passed ball moving the runner into scoring position.

The Lady Bears posted six runs in the home half of the first, sending 11 batters to the plate, knocking three hits and aided by five free passes. St. Joseph's plated three more runs in the following frame to get over the eight run threshold.

After the early run, Scheer remained in complete control working with a large cushion and scattered three more hits for the remainder of the afternoon, with no Cardinal advancing past second base. Scheer finished with three strikeouts while walking three.