Different Day, Same Story: Softball Loses in Toughest of Ways Again
By: Anthony Vasquez
Citrus TV Softball Beat Reporter
ATLANTA, GA – Syracuse Softball came into the series against Georgia Tech riding a 7 game winning streak that featured excellent pitching and timely hitting. The Orange are now leaving Atlanta losers of three straight to the Jackets, including a heartbreaking 2-1 extra innings defeat Sunday.
The first two games of the series presented the same issues that have plagued the team all season. The hitting was not able to back up the pitching staff forcing the hurlers to throw an almost flawless game. Sunday’s matinee finale was no different.
‘Cuse struck first in the fifth inning thanks to Laila Alves’ RBI single to center field. At that point, Lindsey Hendrix was in the middle of a near perfect outing that saw her toss 5.1 shutout innings with four strikeouts mixed in.
She was eventually pulled for Ariana Adams after throwing her 92nd pitch of the afternoon in the sixth. A clean sixth gave way to a seventh frame where an always costly leadoff walk came around to score from first on an error by Parris Woods in center field.
Now with the winning runner on third with one out, Shannon Doepking made the desperation move to bring the infield in as Ella Edgmon stepped in the box. Adams forced her to hit a sharp groundball to second where Kelly Breen dove and scooped the ball all in one motion. She gathered herself, loaded up to throw, and tossed a rocket to home plate to nab the runner and send this game to extras.
Unfortunately, S.U. only had four hits going into the extra frames and by the time this game ended, the hits were still stuck at four. The Orange went 0-6 in the eight and ninth inning combined. The only runner to reach base was Angie Ramos after she reached first on a fielding error.
Meanwhile, the floodgates finally broke open for the Yellow Jackets in the ninth. Kaia Oliver replaced Adams with a runner on first with nobody gone and proceeded to walk the first hitter she faced. Now with two aboard, Oliver got the next two outs swiftly before a wild pitch sailed over Alves’ head ended this game 2-1.
Even though Syracuse was swept, they would be the first to tell you all three games were winnable, especially today. The pitching was once again magnificent while the hitting was absolutely subpar. It’s tough enough to try and win a series scoring just five runs in three games, let alone trying to do that in the ACC.
Coming up next for the Orange is a break from the grueling first part of the season that saw the team rack up the travel miles like no other. The Swinging Orange played its first 26 games of the season on the road. To make matters even worse, only four of those games were played in the northeast. It’ll surely be a welcomed sight to see fans back at Skytop Softball Stadium cheering on their beloved Orange.
First pitch against Pittsburgh is scheduled for 3 p.m. on South Campus.
