McClafferty Tosses No-Hitter as Softball Sweeps SJC-Brooklyn

Written by Andrew Capitelli (SJC-LI Sports Information)

Bellerose, NY| Senior Mallory McClafferty's 12-strikeout no-hitter highlighted the St. Joseph's College (L.I.) softball team's two-game sweep of St. Joseph's (Brkln) at Padavan-Preller Field in Bellerose, NY on Saturday afternoon.

McClafferty fanned a career-best 12 batters en route to a 4-0 win in game one, and the SJC offense exploded for a 15-5 victory in game two.

With the victories the Golden Eagles move to 8-2 (2-0 Skyline) on the season while the Bears open the season with an 0-2 (0-2 Skyline) mark.

Junior Gabrielle Cinquemani opened the scoring for the guests in the first inning of game one when her two-run homer (2) that scored senior Lindsey Corriss.

McClafferty's walk in the top of the fourth loaded the bases for the Golden Eagles and set up senior Megan Leun for an RBI single that scored sophomore Kristen Arbiter. Up 3-0 in the top of the fifth, Corriss' first-career homer extended SJC's lead to 4-0 and capped off the game's scoring.

Of the 24 batters McClafferty faced, the Bellport, NY native struckout half and walked three others. A Skyline Weekly Honor Roll selection last week, McClafferty is now 4-0 on the season and boasts a 1.12 ERA, which is tops in the conference amongst pitchers who have made at least three appearances.

Corriss was 3-4 in the contest with two runs and an RBI. Cinquemani hit 2-2 with two RBI's, a run and a walk.

In game two, the Golden Eagles jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second inning off three unearned runs. The Bears would get one back in the bottom of the second after Samantha Simon's RBI single scored Nicole Quintana.

Cinquemani would extend the Golden Eagles' lead to four runs (5-1) in the fourth with her second two-run homer of the afternoon.

Carrying a 6-3 led into the sixth inning, SJC exploded for nine runs to pull ahead 15-3. Kathryn Kamalic got the scoring started with a two-RBI single that scored McClafferty and Nicole Pitta, and two at-bats later Corriss scored Leun with a single up the middle. Jillian McFadzen's walk forced Kamalic home, and Arbiter's grand slam with the next at-bat cleared the bases. Leun would be credited with the final run of the inning when she scored off a muffed throw by the Brooklyn first baseman.

The Bears would tally two more runs in the bottom of the sixth, but it wasn't enough to fend off the mercy deficit of 10 runs (15-5).

Lauren Buturla picked up her second victory of the season in a complete game effort that saw her strike out five batters. Theresa Armano took the loss for the Bears.

Corriss had another strong showing, going 3-5 with two RBI's and a run. Kamalic recorded  career-bests in hits (4), RBI's (3) and runs (3). Arbiter (2-5) had a game-best four RBI's.

The Golden Eagles return to action tomorrow, March 20, when they travel to Newburgh, NY to face Mount St. Mary College in Skyline action at 12:00 and 2:00 PM. Live stats available at sjcgoldeneagles.com.