Lady Bears Sweep Brooklyn College on Senior Night

PATCHOGUE, NY - The St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) softball team notched a pair of wins over borough rival Brooklyn College, 4-2 and 8-3, as the Lady Bears celebrated Senior Night on Saturday evening at the SJC Outdoor Athletic Complex.

St. Joseph's (21-10) improves to 15-0-1 in the all-time series vs. Brooklyn College (17-17). The sweep is the 101st win for the graduating senior class, the most by any Bears or Lady Bears class in any sport.

All in attendance were treated to a barbeque in-between games and the five seniors Alyson Chiaramonte (Staten Island, NY/Moore Catholic), Caitlyn Kakavas (Bayside, NY/St. Agnes), Emily Palmieri (Staten Island, NY/St. John's Villa), Lisa Scheer (Bayside, NY/Mary Louis) and Jillian Troise (Brooklyn, NY/Bishop Kearney) were honored in a ceremony after the games.  

Senior pitchers Chiaramonte and Scheer each went the distance in the circle for the win.  Chiaramonte (14-6) surrendered two runs (one earned) on five hits, striking out six in the opener.  Scheer (7-4) allowed three runs (two earned) on 10 hits, also striking out six and walked three in the nightcap.

In the opener, the Bulldogs scored solo runs in the first and sixth innings to take short-lived one run leads with the Lady Bears immediately responding in the home half of the frame.  The Bulldogs grinded out an unearned run in the first off Chiaramonte without a hit, Kim Konklewski reaching on a hit by pitch advancing to second on a passed ball and later scoring on a pair of grounders.

St. Joseph's leveled the game on a double by Scheer to the fence that scored Danielle Marino (Maspeth, NY/Mary Louis) who preceded her with a single.  The relay home beat Marino attempting to score from first, but she went wide to evade the tag of the diving catcher and drove to knot the game at 1-1.

Both teams went scoreless until the sixth with the Bulldogs providing the only threat, stranding the bases loaded in the third after two uncharacteristic hit batters by Chiaramonte, having beaned only two all season.

Brooklyn broke the deadlock in the sixth after a pair of singles through the infield from Megan Cranston and Maria Mantagas, Cranston scoring on an Allison Donovan groundout.

The Lady Bears countered with three runs in the bottom half, all coming with two outs, to take their first lead and the eventual final score.  With runners on first and second, after a Marino single and Scheer walk, Kakavas delivered a clutch double to left that plated Marino to knot the game at 2-2.  Andrea Sideli (Brooklyn, NY/Bishop Kearney) followed single that dropped just over the second baseman by the outfield grass, scoring Scheer and Kakavas also scoring from second on heads up baserunning seeing the catcher out of position in the scramble.

Junior Mabel Vargas (Ridgewood, NY/Mary Louis) rapped two singles in the opener to join Marino with a multi-hit game. Konklewski slapped two infield singles to finish as the only Bulldog with multiple hits.

Marie Oneto (12-9) took the loss for the Bulldogs, giving up four runs on eight hits, striking out three and walking one in six innings of work. 

In the finale that featured the Lady Bears knocking 15 hits, St. Joseph's scored early and often with three runs in the first and four more in the third to take a commanding 7-0 lead.  In the first, St. Joseph's quickly loaded the bases after singles from Millicia Malvasio (Brooklyn, NY/Bishop Kearney) and Scheer and Chiaramonte reaching on an error. Kakavas drew a bases-loaded walk to start the scoring and Sideli collected her team-high fourth RBI of the evening with a two-run single.

In the third, the Lady Bears belted five hits and scored all four runs with two outs, taking an advantage of a Bulldog miscue that caused all runs to come unearned to starter Kimberly Brennan who took the game two loss going 2.2 innings, allowing seven runs (two earned).  Freshman Jackie Perillo (Howard Beach, NY/Archbishop Molloy) started a string of four straight hits and opened the scoring with a two-run double that landed at the base of the centerfield wall that scored Kakavas and Sideli. Malvasio and Scheer capped the scoring with RBI singles.

Scheer worked of out a bases-loaded jam in the fourth, fanning the last batter looking to end the inning. The Lady Bears threatened to reach the run rule with placing runners in scoring position in the fourth and fifth innings.

Brooklyn got on the board in the sixth with a two-out, two-run single from Norah Marley to cut the deficit to 7-2.

The Lady Bears tacked on a solo run in the home half after Megan Moran (Syosset, NY/St. Dominic's) led off with a single and later scored on a Perillo single, that capped a 3-for-3 game with three RBI a run scored and a double.

A Lady Bears miscue to open the seventh allowed Brooklyn an unearned run and Scheer worked out of another bases loaded jam  to preserve the victory.  Scheer helped her own cause in the circle with a 3-for-4 game with a RBI and a run scored.  Batterymate Marino also had a 3-for-4 game and finished the twinbill going 5-for-7 with two runs. Malvasio rounded out the Lady Bears with three hit efforts, scoring twice and driving in a run.

St. Joseph's enters the final week of the regular season, returning to action on Monday, April 30th hosting York College for a doubleheader at Padavan-Preller Field starting at 5 p.m.

Full Game Program with Senior Reflections