SB : UConn sweeps error-prone SU for 1st time since 2003
Less than 24 hours after its triumphant sweep of Providence, the Syracuse softball team reverted to old habits.
The same players who effortlessly fielded ground balls and fly balls Saturday poorly misplayed the same balls the following day against Connecticut. The same pitchers who pitched complete game shutouts Saturday struggled with ball location the following day.
‘It was just a couple mental mistakes, a couple critical errors,’ associate head coach and pitching coach Kyle Jamieson said. ‘The thing that UConn did was they jumped on it every time we made a mistake. Sometimes you get away with it, but today it came back to haunt us.’
In previous games, SU usually escaped erroneous innings unscathed. But that was not the case against UConn. The Huskies swept the Orange – winning the opener, 9-1, in five innings, and rallying from a four-run deficit in the second game to win, 7-6.
Sunday’s losses leave Syracuse with a 12-19 overall record and a modest 5-3 in the Big East. The Orange had won five straight games against the Huskies going into Sunday and hadn’t been swept by the team since 2003.
SU faltered from the opening pitch in the first game Sunday. During the first inning, there was miscommunication on a fly ball, which ultimately dropped in between two outfielders.
‘It sucks that the sun is especially bad in our stadium, but we tried our best under the circumstances,’ sophomore outfielder Ev Anderson said.
Senior pitcher Chanel Roehner never found her rhythm as she struggled to locate her pitches. As a result, she never made it past the first inning. The senior was pulled in favor of freshman Angie Sagnelli, after she allowed three earned runs in a third of an inning’s work.
Jamieson said Roehner’s faulty pitching was the result of physical fatigue.
‘She did throw Friday. Then she had to throw again yesterday, and maybe she was a little tired today,’ Jamieson said. ‘Maybe she could have worked it out, but we were just in a situation where (UConn) went bang, bang, bang in the first inning, and we had to make a move.’
Conversely, UConn pitcher Tricia Sullivan baffled the Syracuse bats. She surrendered a measly three hits, all of which were to Roehner. The Huskies’ pitcher also ended hitting streaks of 10 games or more from junior catcher Amy Kelley and junior shortstop Jamie Kelling.
After a postgame pep talk, Syracuse regained focus in its second game. Sophomore pitcher Brittany Gardner cruised through the first three innings, striking out seven batters without allowing a run.
But Syracuse blew two leads to lose game two. The first, a 3-0 advantage in the fifth, was erased after a few misplayed balls by SU. Then, after a Kelley three-run shot in the fifth put Syracuse ahead, 6-4, UConn tied it in the sixth. The Huskies won it on a Sarah Neuschwander solo shot to lead off the inning.
Kelley finished the game with five RBIs, tying her career-high. She nearly brought SU back again with two outs in the seventh and a runner on first. But her deep fly ball fell a few feet short of the fence, and the Huskies left victorious.
Yet again, mental mistakes and errors led to another decisive collapse. It was reminiscent of the performances that haunted the team earlier this season when SU started 0-13.
The Orange players were not fazed by its poor outing. In fact, they reacted calmly, believing it was an aberration from their normal playing style.
‘We’ll be fine,’ Kelley said. ‘We’re just going to drop it, move forward and keep playing our hearts out. It happens, it’s softball and it’s part of the game.’
The coaching staff voiced its confidence in the players, and praised their ability to rebound from the embarrassing first game.
‘You got to remember that game could have gone any way,’ Jamieson said. ‘Amy Kelley hits that ball another five feet, and we walk off that field as winners. We just have to come with our top game at all times.’
