SB : SU’s 21 errors make for ugly start to year
During practices, the Syracuse softball team can consistently produce dazzling, star-studded plays. Yet, come gameday, those plays become nonexistent, and instead, critical errors arise.
‘We come in here and practice great,’ senior Chanel Roehner said. ‘We make ESPN plays, we’re hitting the ball over the fence, we’re doing everything we’re supposed to do, but then we get on the field and it’s like we panic when the ball is hit to us. Everyone wants to do so well that they put so much pressure on themselves.’
After going winless in its last two tournaments, SU is looking to rebound from those performances this weekend at the NFCA Leadoff. The Orange will open up the tournament with doubleheaders on today and Saturday. Today it will face North Carolina State in the afternoon and UC Santa Barbara later tonight. Saturday, SU will go up against Mississippi State and Nebraska. Then, the Orange will close out the weekend Sunday afternoon against Auburn.
While Syracuse has faltered in several aspects of game play, its struggles are mostly attributed to sloppy fielding and foolish errors with runners on base.
At the end of last season, SU accumulated 66 total errors in 52 games. This year’s team has already accrued 21 errors through eight games, and is on pace to shatter last season’s total.
However, the problem has not been with mistakes throughout the game, but more about erroneous lapses in particular innings.
Syracuse has allowed three or more runs in an inning on seven separate occasions. In 52 innings played, the Orange has allowed 53 total runs with 33 of them coming in those seven innings. Errors played a significant factor during each occasion. By allowing teams to pour on runs all at once, the Orange has forced themselves to rally from early, substantial gaps.
While the entire team is liable for each error, one could forgive the pitchers for growing frustrated with the team’s fielding troubles. Pitchers can pitch excellent, but without defensive support, their efforts are meaningless. SU has allowed 26 unearned runs this season.
‘It’s one of the toughest parts of the game,’ pitcher Brittany Gardner said. ‘It’s not the physical (part) or anything like that. It’s always the mental part that is hardest to control. You can’t dwell on it, or it’ll cause you to make more errors, more walks, more hit batters, and it just snowballs.’
The team’s defensive struggles also emanate from its inability to practice outside on a dirt field. It’s very difficult to simulate the direction of a ball’s bounces in the Dome because of the flat surface. In essence, without outdoor practice, players will have to continue adjusting to the ball’s tricky bounces.
Still, the SU coaching staff has attempted to simulate the process with several, unique drills.
‘(Associate coach) Kyle (Jamieson) started having the pitchers throw drop ball spins, which hug the ground a little better,’ Syracuse head coach Leigh Ross said. ‘But, it’s hard especially off the bat. They have certain balls that you can use that look like an atom, and you can toss them around and get bad hops.’
Roehner will not allow the lack of outdoor practice to serve as an excuse. Ultimately, she said the team’s errors are attributed to mental mistakes and distractions. In addition, she claims the team has succumbed to the pressure and has lost the desire to have fun.
‘People are trying to get the ball out as fast as they can and be really quick,’ Roehner said. ‘They just need to relax and make routine plays.’
Whatever the source of the errors is, everyone can agree it needs to be rectified immediately. Ross sees the potential in this squad and hopes her team bonds through the early-season adversity.
‘One game at a time, we talked about just playing clean ball,’ Ross said. ‘Every kid on this team needs to be all in, and when they’re on this field they got to go all out.’
