Syracuse bats stay cold, Orange drops home series to Notre Dame

Syracuse dropped both contests in their home series against Notre Dame this weekend. After sweeping Pittsburgh in a weather-shortened home-opener last weekend, the Orange returned to Skytop Softball Stadium last Friday.

Orange drop series-opener on Friday, 5-2

Bottom of the fifth, one out, SU’s Angel Jasso stood on third. The Orange trailed by a run as Kelly Breen stepped to the plate. Notre Dame’s Payton Tidd delivered a breaking ball as Breen rolled the ball over to the shortstop, who fired the ball home and tagged out Jasso.

The Orange’s struggle to plate Jasso epitomized their efforts; they were able to knock three hits in the first inning, but only mustered two more hits. The Orange were able to get the bat on the ball, as they only struck out seven times. But when they put the ball in play, the Irish took care of business.

“We just got to compete a little bit harder, especially when we got runners in scoring position,” coach Shannon Doepking said. “We had tons of runners and opportunities today but we were just unable to come up with timely hits.”

Jasso reached base in all four plate appearances, notching two doubles and three stolen bases.

“Honestly I was seeing beach balls,” Jasso said. “I went out there and had the mentality of me versus the pitcher and just took it like that and the results show.”

Both Lindsey Hendrix and Ariana Adams spent time on the mound as the Orange continued their pitch-by-committee approach. Hendrix pitched 4.2 innings, conceding three earned runs on eight hits with two strikeouts. She took the loss, while Adams tossed 2.1 innings, allowing four hits and two earned runs.

“I think that we put ourselves in a lot of hitters counts,” said Doepking. “I think we did a decent job with first-pitch strikes but I think after that we got behind a lot and put them in counts that we did not want to put them in.”

The Irish pulled away down the stretch and took the first game 5-2. 

Notre Dame downs Syracuse 9-0 on Saturday

After a four-hour weather delay on Saturday, Syracuse and Notre Dame were finally able to play. The rain didn’t put a damper on Notre Dame’s play though. 

The Fighting Irish opened up to a 4-0 lead after the first inning. Notre Dame’s Abby Sweet singled up the middle, driving in Karina Gaskins and Leea Hanks. A three-run home run by Miranda Johnson extended the lead to 8-0 in the second inning. 

The Orange were able to produce four hits, but they weren’t able to put any runs on the board. In the bottom of the first, Jasso tallied her 17th stolen base of the season.

“I was looking to be very aggressive (on the base paths),” Jasso said Friday. “Me and coach actually have a deal — if I get 25 steals then I get a pair of shoes — so I am just keeping that mentality.” 

Summer Clark took over on the mound and quieted the Notre Dame bats, but the Orange offense never woke up.

Mother Nature intervened and the third game of the series was canceled due to inclement weather. Syracuse will continue their home stretch and look to rebound with a double-header on Wednesday against Canisius.