Syracuse Goes 1-1 in Busy Weekend
By Sam Rothman
Syracuse softball (8-6) began its play in the Patriot Classic with matchups against George Mason (4-6) and Monmouth (3-3) on Saturday. The Orange’s offensive outburst against the Patriots led to a 9-0 shutout win, but Syracuse could not maintain the momentum and fell to Monmouth 3-2 in extra innings.
Senior AnnaMarie Gatti started in the circle for the Orange. Gatti pitched five scoreless innings in her last game against Houston before Alexa Romero took over. However, when facing the Patriots, Gatti would only last one inning and was replaced by Romero in the second.
The Orange got on the board first in the second inning. Lailoni Mayfield brought home Holmgren with an RBI groundout to give Syracuse the 1-0 advantage. Neli Casares-Maher advanced to third, but the Orange couldn’t convert with two outs in the inning to extend its lead.
Syracuse scored two more runs in the third with Toni Martin leading the charge. Martin tripled to right field and scored off of Sammy Fernandez’s double. Fernandez then ran home off of Alicia Hansen’s single to give Syracuse the three run lead in the third.
The freshmen pair of Lailoni Mayfield and Michala Maciolek extended the Orange’s lead to 4-0 in the fourth. Mayfield singled on her second hit of the game and scored off of Michala Maciolek’s RBI double for the fourth run of the contest.
The Syracuse offense heated up in the fifth with three different players crossing home for the Orange. Alicia Hansen reached on an error, stole second and ran home off of Gabby Teran’s triple. Teran then scored off of Hannah Dossett’s RBI groundout, while Holmgren ran to third base. With one out left in the fifth, Mayfield tallied another single and Holmgren crossed home to round out the three-run inning.
Syracuse was not done yet and added two more runs in the sixth. With Alicia Hansen and Gabby Teran on base, Holmgren hit a single, bringing home both Teran and Hansen to cap off the 9-0 win for the Orange.
Holmgren drove in two players for the Orange against the Patriots, extending her RBI total to a team-high 19. However, Holmgren wasn’t the only player getting it done for Syracuse as six different players crossed home in the matchup. Romero matched the Orange’s strong offensive play and recorded 11 strikeouts through five innings for SU’s fourth shutout of the season.
Syracuse came away with the dominating win against George Mason, but its matchup against Monmouth would be different.
This time, the Hawks jumped out to the early lead in the second. Senior Chloe Howerth singled and drove home two runners to give Monmouth the 2-0 advantage. However, the Hawks would not hold onto the lead for long. Syracuse responded in the bottom of the inning as Holmgren ran home off of Neli Casares-Maher’s triple, and Casares-Maher scored off of a wild pitch to tie the game at two.
Both teams were not able to get on the board again in regulation, and extra innings would be needed to decide this one.
Romero took over the mound in the fifth inning and struck out each batter she faced, bringing her strikeout total to 21 on the day. In the eighth inning, Romero retired the first two batters, but gave up her first hit of the game with two outs. Kayla Rosado ran home off of Amanda Riley’s double to give Monmouth the 3-2 lead.
In the bottom of the eighth Syracuse loaded the bases, but it couldn’t capitalize and Rosado’s run turned out to be the eventual game winner for Monmouth.
Syracuse returns to action Sunday morning with a rematch against George Mason to close out the Patriot Classic.
