One bird was the margin between Anthony I. Matarese, Jr., and the rest of the FITASC field at the 2026 NSCA U.S. Open Sporting Clays Championship, where he broke 96x100 with a Beretta SL2 to take High Over All.
Matarese was not the only Beretta shooter to claim a top finish at Game Unlimited in Hudson, Wisconsin. Across six days of competition from Aug. 11-16, five Team Beretta athletes reached the podium in the Main Event, FITASC, Super Sporting and Five-Stand, with three of them taking that form into the second leg of a series making its American debut.
Connor Daniel won the Main Event junior title with a 187x200 shooting a Beretta DT11 EELL, while Desirae Edmunds claimed the Five-Stand Lady Championship with 93x100 shooting Beretta’s A400 L Sporting semi-automatic shotgun. In addition, with her 694 Sporting over-under, Meagan Grossi ranked third among ladies on the Super Sporting leaderboard.
Nobody covered more ground than Diane Sorantino. Shooting a Beretta A400 Xcel Sporting, she won High Lady Veteran in the Main Event with 172x200, then repeated as in the same category as champion in both FITASC and Super Sporting, plus runner-up in the same category in the Preliminary.
Beretta Gold Cup
This year’s U.S. Open doubled as the second event of the inaugural U.S. Beretta Gold Cup, which brought the series to American soil for the first time as part of the company’s 500th anniversary.
Beretta Gold Cup competition traces back to the first Carlo Beretta Gold Cup Trap, held in Lonato, Italy, in 1984. Its U.S. version runs across three sporting clays events, with combined scores deciding an overall national champion, and that champion earns an invitation to represent the U.S. at the 2027 Beretta Gold Cup in Italy.
Three Beretta athletes landed on the Gold Cup podium in Wisconsin. Matarese finished third overall at 377x400, Sorantino won the Lady Veteran category with a 338x400 and Daniel placed third among juniors at 366x400.
“These results are a testament to the talent, dedication and hard work of our athletes,” said Ricardo Olivieri, Beretta USA head of luxury and competition, who described the Gold Cup as a celebration of excellence and support for the shooting sports.
Complete 2026 NSCA U.S. Open results are available at the Score Chaser website. Learn more about Team Beretta and its competition shotguns at beretta.com.
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