Lady Bears Split Pair of 1-0 Games with St. Joseph's (Long Island)

PATCHOGUE, NY – Senior Caitlyn Kakavas (Bayside, NY/St. Agnes) blasted a solo home run and batterymate Alyson Chiaramonte (Staten Island, NY/Moore Catholic) tossed her ninth shutout to lead the Lady Bears to a 1-0 victory in the opener of a doubleheader with sister campus St. Joseph's College (Long Island) on Tuesday evening at the brand new SJC Outdoor Athletic Complex.

The finale saw another defensive battle with the Lady Bears on the opposite end of another 1-0 decision. The doubleheader split leaves the Lady Bears and Golden Eagles even in the all-time series, 5-5, with both squads splitting doubleheaders in the last three meetings.

Kakavas' home run in the second inning was her second of the season, sixth of her career, and one of four hits in the contest for the Lady Bears (17-9).

Chiaramonte struck out seven, walked one and allowed just three hits for her 12th victory of the season. Entering tonight's twinbill, the three-time AD3I and HVWAC Player of the Week was tied for 4th in Division III in shutouts, two behind the national leaders.

The Golden Eagles (18-18) posed threats to equalize the game in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, stranding a runner at third in each frame. In the fourth, a one-out drive from Julia De Carmine landed on the top of the fence in center, almost equalizing the game, but stayed in play for a triple. Chiaramonte worked out the inning forcing two groundouts, including a sliding stop from Cassandra Molinari (Brooklyn, NY/St. Edmund Prep) in the hole at second to end the inning.

Chiaramonte escaped the trouble in the fifth and sixth frames with inning-ending strikeouts and preserved the victory with a 1-2-3 seventh. Cassie Martinez suffered the tough loss for the Golden Eagles, going the distance, striking out 10 and walking two.

Despite only one run coming across in the nightcap, both squads had several chances to score but unable to break through. The Lady Bears nearly drew first blood in the opening frame with Lisa Scheer (Bayside, NY/Mary Louis) attempting to score from first on a Chiaramonte double to the gap, but the Golden Eagles executed a flawless relay to throw her out at the plate to end the inning.

Long Island converted the momentum into offense with De Carmine, Julianne Tierney and Gina Moscatelli knocking three straight one-out singles to load the bases. De Carmine helped her own cause in the circle scoring on an Alyssa Sieber grounder, but Chiaramonte limited the damage to one, stranding the bases loaded with a strikeout looking.

De Carmine retired the Lady Bears in order in the second, third and fourth innings, before the Lady Bears started to produce baserunners. In the fifth, Brooklyn squandered a leadoff single from Kakavas followed by a Molinari walk, unable to move a runner past second. In the sixth, the Lady Bears leadoff hitter reached on an error, but couldn't advance her into scoring position.

Chiaramonte worked out of another bases loaded jam in the fourth inning and left another runner at standing third in the fifth to keep the game at 1-0.

The Lady Bears assembled a two-out rally in their final at-bat and nearly broke through for the comeback, but ran into some hard luck. Andrea Sideli (Brooklyn, NY/Bishop Kearney) pinch hit and knocked a single up the middle to start off the rally. Millicia Malvasio (Brooklyn, NY/Bishop Kearney) followed with a single that dropped into right field, moving the tying run into scoring position. Danielle Marino (Maspeth, NY/Mary Louis) then belted a hard grounder to the right side that was destined for the outfield and would have easily knotted the game, but hit Malvasio advancing to second for the game's final out.

Chiaramonte (12-6) took the loss in circle allowing one run on six hits, striking out nine and walking none. Five of Chiaramonte's six losses have been decided in one-run affairs. De Carmine (9-8) earned the win for the Golden Eagles with a complete-game shutout, striking out four and allowing four hits.

The Lady Bears return to action on Thursday, April 26th heading to the Bronx to take on Lehman College for a doubleheader starting at 5 p.m.