Syracuse falls 13-7 to No. 25 Louisville for 3rd straight loss
Syracuse softball’s ACC woes continued in its 13-7 loss to No. 25 Louisville Sunday. The loss sealed SU's fourth conference sweep this year. Charlie Hynes | Staff Photographer
Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox. Subscribe to our sports newsletter here.
The last time Syracuse softball finished .500 or better in Atlantic Coast Conference play, the fidget spinner was a hot commodity, Kendrick Lamar’s hit “Humble” was No. 1 on the Billboard Top 100 and the Golden State Warriors were becoming the NBA’s next dynasty.
It was April 30, 2017, and SU finished 10-10 in ACC play behind Sydney O’Hara’s .476 batting average and 1.86 earned run average. The Orange went 2-1 in the ACC in 2020, but the season was cut short due to COVID-19.
But ever since Shannon Doepking took over as head coach in 2019, it’s all been downhill. Excluding 2020, SU’s highest winning percentage in conference play across Doepking’s tenure is just 37.5% in 2021 and 2024.
This season has been the same old story for Syracuse. The Orange entered Sunday a woeful 4-14 in the ACC with three conference losses by 10 runs or more. SU was outscored 18-6 across its first two games against No. 25 Louisville and came into Sunday searching for a pulse.
The Orange left Sunday without one. Despite Madison Knight’s two home runs, Syracuse (18-23, 4-15 ACC) fell 13-7 to No. 25 Louisville (41-10, 16-5 ACC), getting swept by an ACC opponent for the fourth time in 2026. Julianna Verni was disastrous in the circle, allowing a season-high 10 runs in less than four innings, and SU’s offense couldn’t come back late.
Syracuse’s ACC Tournament hopes were hanging on by a thread entering Sunday. It trailed NC State by two games for the tournament’s final spot and had little room for error with No. 16 Virginia Tech on tap next weekend.
Early on Sunday, SU looked like a team that had already given up.
Louisville starting pitcher Alyssa Zabala easily retired the side in the first inning. Knight popped out weakly before Jadyn Burney struck out and Vanessa Flores grounded out.
Verni was dealing through four innings Friday, shutting out Louisville and maneuvering her way through jams. But everything unraveled in the fifth inning as she surrendered five runs en route to a 13-5 mercy-rule loss.
She didn’t fare much better Sunday.
While Verni didn’t allow a hit in the first inning, she walked Chelsea Mack and Bri Despines to start the frame. Mack then scored from second base on Verni’s wild pitch to make it 1-0. With Despines on third, yet another Verni wild pitch allowed her to trot home, making it 2-0.
It was more of the same in the second, but with hits sprinkled in. With runners on second and third, Easton Lotus singled to extend Louisville’s lead to 3-0. Two batters later, Despines doubled deep into the gap, scoring two runs to balloon the Cardinals’ advantage to 5-0.
It’s not surprising Despines dominated Syracuse. Not only did she enter Sunday with a .399 batting average and 59 runs batted in, but her two-run double was also her 200th career hit.
Just as Despines has been the glue to Louisville’s offense, Knight has been Syracuse’s. Her 12 homers coming into Sunday were both a team and career-high, and she blasted a two-run homer in the third to cut SU’s deficit to 5-2.
Knight was far from done. Ava Venturelli restored Louisville’s five-run lead with a homer in the bottom of the third, but Knight responded with a towering three-run shot in the fourth. Between Gabby Lantier’s RBI single and Knight’s second home run, it was suddenly just 7-6 Cardinals.
Syracuse was in it. Its offense was producing with runners in scoring position. It was just one run away from tying the game.
Then Verni’s already rocky afternoon took a turn for the worse.
Madison Pickens, who recorded five hits in the first two games of the series, drove in Mack to make it 8-6. Soon after, with runners on second and third, Taylor Monroe crushed a ball into the gap to score two more runs. Just like that, Syracuse was down four in the bottom of the fourth.
Doepking finally took Verni out with two outs in the fourth, but the damage was already done. Rose Cano escaped the inning after surrendering a walk but allowed a Despines RBI groundout in the fifth to make it 11-6.
Facing an uphill climb, SU was threatening in the sixth. With runners on first and second and two outs, Flores lined a single to center to cut Louisville’s advantage to 11-7. After a Kendall Gaunt walk, Kaimi Tulua had a chance to send Syracuse’s dugout into a frenzy with a game-tying grand slam.
Tulua struck Brooke Gray’s pitch well into deep center, but Mack made a routine catch in front of the warning track to end the inning. SU’s situational hitting woes were fading early in the game, but Tulua wasted a golden opportunity.
Venturelli then provided the exclamation point in the bottom of the sixth. Her second two-run homer of the game gave Louisville a 13-7 lead, one it wouldn’t relinquish.
Syracuse’s offense showed signs of life despite the sweep. But its porous pitching displayed just how wide the gap is between it and ACC contenders.
