Syracuse softball cancels first 2 games of 3-game series vs. NC State
Syracuse softball has cancelled its first two games of its three-game weekend series against NC State, the team announced Friday. Charlie Hynes | Staff Photographer
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Syracuse softball’s schedule is shuffling again. The Orange (11-12, 0-5 Atlantic Coast) announced the first two games of their three-game weekend series against the NC State Wolfpack (19-14, 1-5 ACC), scheduled for Friday and Saturday, will be canceled.
Syracuse remains set to host NC State on Sunday, and that day’s clash was switched to a doubleheader. Game times are 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.
Friday’s news has a familiar ring to it. This weekend’s cancellations are the 11th time this season a game has been either entirely scrapped or moved to another date.
It’s placed SU at an extreme disadvantage. Syracuse has simply amassed less reps, seen fewer pitches, taken fewer swings and fielded fewer ground balls. SU’s Sunday opponent, NC State, has sent 258 more batters into the box this season, and its fielders have logged 62 more innings on the diamond.
That said, the Wolfpack appear beatable. NC State is riding a five game skid, and the Wolfpack dropped its first series of ACC play to a Pittsburgh Panthers squad that has reached base (.357 OBP, 14th in the ACC) less frequently than all but one other conference team this year.
Like Syracuse, NC State ranks in the bottom half of the ACC in batting average (.286, 11th), on-base percentage (.391, 10th) and slugging percentage (.462, 10th).
In a season continually disrupted by thunderstorms, rain and freezing temperatures and dotted with lopsided losses to top programs, NC State offers an opportunity for SU to regroup, collect its first two conference wins since last April and generate some sort of momentum heading into a winnable stretch of schedule. It makes getting this weekend’s reps in all the more crucial for the Orange.
