Romero’s Rough Weekend Continues; Orange Swept by Yellow Jackets
By Tom Russo
CitrusTV Softball Beat Reporter
ATLANTA – Head Coach Shannon Doepking has lived by the mantra, “If we’re gonna lose, we’re gonna lose with Lex on the mound,” all season long. This weekend affirmed three times over.
Orange ace Alexa Romero gave up a pair of walk-off singles the past two days, and on Sunday, her long weekend against Georgia Tech continued.
Romero got the start in the series finale, but the Yellow Jackets jumped out early on the lefty. Georgia Tech (30-23, 11-10 Atlantic Coast) did not stop until it had swept Syracuse (20-28, 8-13 Atlantic Coast) off the field with a 9-1 run-rule victory in five innings.
The junior walked the first hitter she saw before hitting the next and walking another to load the bases with no outs. Tricia Awald made the most of the situation, roping a two-run double into center field to promptly get the Yellow Jackets on the board.
It was a sign of things to come.
In the second inning, Awald was back up with only two runners on base this time. The outcome was even worse for Romero as Awald blasted a three-run homer to extend the Georgia Tech lead to 6-0.
Miranda Hearn then came in to relieve Romero, but things didn’t get much better for the Orange.
Cameron Stanford tacked on an RBI double in the third before Georgia Tech officially put it in run-rule territory in the fourth with RBI singles from Isabella Many and Maddie Billings.
Neli Casares-Maher’s fifth home run of the season led off the fifth, inspiring a rally for the Orange to extend the game. Hannah Dossett was hit by a pitch, Gabby Teran reached on an error, and Alicia Hansen drew a walk to load the bases with two outs for Alex Acevedo.
But, Acevedo couldn’t execute as she popped up weakly to short to seal the sweep for the Yellow Jackets.
SU’s offense had vanished from the prior two game as the Orange would get only three hits on the day.
Syracuse will now return home for their final non-conference game of the year on Wednesday against Cornell (9-32, 4-13 Ivy League) with first pitch at 4:00 p.m.
twrusso@syr.edu ǀ @TomRusso24
