Lady Bears Fall to Penn State Mont Alto in Opener at USCAA Nationals

AKRON, OH – In a pitchers' duel between two USCAA All-Americans, St. Joseph's came out on the short end, dropping their opening round matchup against Penn State Mont Alto at the USCAA National Softball Championships, 2-1.

Alyson Chiaramonte (Staten Island, NY/Moore Catholic) and Kristyan Gates combined for 17 strikeouts and held batters to seven hits for the contest. Chiaramonte, who received USCAA All-American honors for the third time in her career yesterday, struck out eight and surrendered two runs (one earned) suffering the loss and falling to 16-2 in the circle. Gates struck out nine and allowed four hits for the victory and was named Player of the Game.

Mont Alto scored all their runs with a two-out rally in the third with the top of the order knocking three straight hits.

St. Joseph's sole run also came with two outs with Chiaramonte helping her own cause with a double that scored Lisa Scheer (Bayside, NY/Mary Louis) from first who singled before her for the Lady Bears first hit.

St. Joseph's falls to the losers' bracket of the double-elimination tournament and will face #7 Judson College this afternoon at 6 pm.