Syracuse softball defeats Toledo, falls to Liberty in Day 2 of Liberty Classic
After wins over Toledo and Liberty on Friday, Syracuse softball defeated the Rockets again Saturday afternoon before faltering to the Flames. Angelina Grevi | Staff Photographer
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Squaring off against Toledo’s Olivia Signorino, Syracuse’s Kendall Gaunt led off the top of the fifth inning with a double. Erika Zamora joined her on base with a walk. Both base runners advanced on a Jadyn Burney ground out, and Harmony Jackson walked to load the bases.
There were less than two outs in the inning, and it appeared to be an enviable position for the Orange offense to be in early Saturday afternoon.
SU made sure to capitalize on it. With the bases juiced, Taylor Davison singled to left field, driving in two runners and pulling the Orange ahead of the Rockets on the scoreboard.
Davison’s knock proved crucial in Syracuse’s (7-5, Atlantic Coast) 4-3 victory over Toledo (1-11, Mid-American) Saturday afternoon, putting the Orange up 2-1 late in the contest. Despite starting the second day of the Liberty Softball Classic with a win over the Rockets, though, SU ended the day inauspiciously with a 7-0 loss to Liberty (5-9, Conference USA).
By the end of the day, Syracuse hitters accumulated nineteen at-bats with runners in scoring position. Davison’s two-RBI single to left was its only hit.
That right there — the Orange’s struggles with runners on — delineated a clear difference between the first and second days of the Liberty Classic. It’s how Syracuse went from sweeping its doubleheader Friday to splitting its doubleheader Saturday, barely escaping with a narrow, one-run victory over a Toledo team that’s managed a mere one win all year.
Compared to Friday, the Orange had four less hits, and a batting average 276 points lower, with runners in scoring position on Saturday.
Although Syracuse batters did benefit from seven walks courtesy of Liberty pitchers Katie Love and Danner Allen, it wasn’t as if SU generated less traffic on the base paths Saturday. In total, the Orange offense produced 24 base runners, only two less than on Friday. But they left seven more on base.
Against Toledo, Syracuse strung together four straight innings with a runner in scoring position and less than two outs. They loaded the bases twice. They went 1-for-9 in those situations.
And Syracuse opened its game against Liberty with three straight such innings. It loaded the bases in the top of the first. SU had at least one runner in scoring position in the game’s first five innings. The Orange went 0-for-10.
Syracuse’s struggles capitalizing with runners on Saturday doesn’t erase the positive momentum it built on Friday. But it’s the risk the Orange run by playing small ball.
As of late, SU’s lineups haven’t possessed the sort of power that can blow games open with a single swing. They’ve instead relied on strings of three or four or five positive plays, one after another, to score a single run or even reach scoring position, often only gaining a base at a time and rarely burying opponents with big innings.
In the last three seasons, SU has slugged above .400 just once — with a .412 slugging percentage in 2024 — and even then still ranked in the bottom half of the ACC in slugging.
But through the first three games of the weekend, the Orange were hinting there may be more juice in their bats than in years past, or at least the last two weekends.
Madison Knight blasted two home runs on the weekend, with her seventh inning two-run shot being the difference Saturday against Toledo. Kaimi Tulua decided the game against Liberty Friday with her own seventh inning two-run round tripper, while Taylor Davison homered, tripled and doubled Friday. Vanessa Flores and Gaunt even added doubles Saturday against Toledo, as well.
But those bats went limp against Liberty Saturday. In their fourth game of the weekend, the Orange managed a mere four hits, all singles. Given the Orange’s track record, it wouldn’t be a shock to see that power entirely evaporating going forward.
Friday — and Friday evening, in particular — proved the Orange can succeed with a small ball offense. But without Knight and Tulua’s heroics, they could well be 1-3 on the weekend. Or even 0-4, considering Knight and Davison’s clutch hits accounted for all of Syracuse’s runs against Toledo Friday afternoon.
It begs the question of repeatability, and not just at the plate. For an offense like Syracuse’s to produce wins, its pitching and defense need to limit as many runs as possible to give its lineup that doesn’t score in chunks a chance at victory.
That didn’t happen Saturday evening. Syracuse turned to three different pitchers against Liberty, and between them, they found the strike zone on just 52.5% of its pitches, walking seven. When Liberty did square up a strike, those gifted baserunners only came back to bite them even worse, as was the case with Savannah Jessee’s three-run home run in the second.
And, with two errors apiece in SU’s contests on Saturday, its fielders weren’t helping matters much, either. The Orange were unsuccessful in all three phases of the game, and it led to their lone blemish at this weekend’s Liberty Classic.
