Without Jadyn Burney, Syracuse’s bats can’t keep up with Notre Dame
Without Jadyn Burney, who sports the best batting percentage on the team, Syracuse’s offense couldn’t keep up with Notre Dame, losing 9-5 Saturday. Charlie Hynes | Staff Photographer
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Three weeks ago, Shannon Doepking stood outside Syracuse’s dugout and fielded questions about her team’s lack of offense. SU had just dropped both legs of its home doubleheader against NC State, suffering a sixth run rule loss and getting outscored 15-1 on the day. Her remarks were scathing.
“It’s tough to have timely hitting when you struggle to hit in general,” she told 247 Sports. “We’ve got to figure out a way to be more consistent one through nine.”
However, she had one consistent piece in her veteran shortstop.
“Essentially, the only consistent hitter we’ve had is Jadyn Burney most of the year,” the eighth-year coach told 247 Sports.
But Wednesday evening against Colgate, with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning, Doepking pinch hit for Burney. Two days later, Burney wasn’t batting leadoff anymore. Saturday, Burney didn’t bat at all. The same hitter whom Doepking pointed to three weeks before as Syracuse’s only dependable bat and the captain of its defense was noticeably absent from the dugout.
The Burney-less Syracuse (16-19, 3-12 Atlantic Coast) lost 9-5 to Notre Dame (19-26, 8-12 ACC) Saturday afternoon, guaranteeing a fifth ACC series loss this season before Sunday’s series finale against ND.
Twelve teams make the ACC Tournament. Syracuse slots one rung below that cutoff, sitting 13th in the conference standings. But that’s deceiving. Twelfth-place Pittsburgh has four more wins than Syracuse, and the Panthers’ .350 win percentage is .150 better than the Orange’s.
Syracuse is running out of time to bridge that gap. Not only does the regular season end in two weeks, but this weekend’s Notre Dame series represents SU’s last opportunity to play an opponent in the bottom half of the ACC standings. Remaining on Syracuse’s conference slate are third- and fourth-place Virginia Tech and Louisville.
A series loss to Notre Dame, which entered the weekend ranked only one spot ahead of Syracuse in the conference standings, may not mathematically eliminate the Orange from ACC playoff contention. But it’s tough to shake the sense that those might not be losses Syracuse can come back from.
Doepking explained her decision to leave Burney out of the lineup as performance-based.
“I think she just needs a little bit of time off,” she told CitrusTV postgame.
While it’s true Burney’s production has dropped precipitously in recent weeks (a .69 drop in batting average and .146 plummet in on-base percentage since Doepking referred to Burney as the team’s only consistent hitter), her absence from the lineup wasn’t the only major Syracuse substitution on Saturday.
The Orange had an entirely new look in the middle of the infield. For the first time since March 15 against Florida State, Burney wasn’t playing shortstop. And for the first time since March 8, in the second game of a doubleheader against UAlbany, Lauren Fox didn’t get the nod at second base. Kaylee Eubanks made her first start at second this season, while Erika Zamora made her first appearance at short since March 1 against Providence after playing third her last eight times seeing the field.
In the top of the sixth inning, Doepking re-arranged her outfield. She took Gabby Lantier out of left field, shifted Kendall Gaunt from right to left and sent Vanessa Flores into right. The move allowed her to keep Madison Knight in the lineup after pulling the two-way senior from the pitcher’s circle.
Harmony Jackson came in for Eubanks in the bottom of the fifth and reached first on a walk. Eubanks then returned, pinch running for Jackson, and ultimately scored Syracuse’s second run of the afternoon. She crossed home from third when Sophia Taliaferro, also pinch running, baited Notre Dame catcher Hayden Kyne into throwing to first for a pickoff attempt.
Later, Doepking decided to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning, with SU down 9-4, with Kayla Sigala pinch hitting for Zamora. With the game on the line, Sigala promptly slapped the ball just over the outstretched glove of Irish center fielder Mickey Winchell for a leadoff double.
Doepking then replaced her on the base paths with pinch runner Peyton Schemmer, who advanced to third on a fielding error by shortstop Avery Houlihan. Schemmer scored on a Vanessa Flores sacrifice fly to right that forced Notre Dame’s Christina Willemssen back to the warning track.
Prior to Saturday’s loss, the Orange had rolled out 33 unique lineups in 34 games played. Before Friday’s loss to Notre Dame, in which Burney batted fifth, 25 straight featured Burney in the leadoff spot. All 34 featured Burney somewhere. Saturday was her first game starting on the bench all season. Make it 34 unique lineups in 35 games.
Syracuse’s playoff chances aren’t zero, but it’s getting close. Look no further than the players on the field. Doepking’s substitutions Saturday signal urgency, if not desperation.
