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Maurice Burney poses a riddle: you and Johnny are hungry. Johnny can satisfy his cravings with just an apple and orange. But you need some vegetables to accompany the fruit to be full. Broccoli, maybe some carrots or even tomatoes.

Who deserves the food? Johnny, who eats less, or you, who needs more? The answer is simple for Maurice. It doesn’t matter how much Johnny eats.

“That don’t change that both of y’all still hungry,” Maurice said. “Some people just have a stronger appetite sometimes.”

Thirteen hundred miles away from Maurice, his daughter, Jadyn Burney, has evolved into Syracuse’s starting shortstop and most consistent hitter. But at the beginning of April, Jadyn was in the worst hitting slump of her SU career, leading to two benchings against Notre Dame. The metaphor was Maurice’s way of detailing how he helped Jadyn weather her drought. He knows she’s hungry to hit; she just has to wait for her chance.

Since the Notre Dame series from April 17-19, Jadyn has logged a hit in each of SU’s last five games. She’s back near the top of its lineup, now as the No. 2 hitter behind Madison Knight instead of her former leadoff spot. Her .321 batting average and 27 runs lead the Orange, while her 20 stolen bases are tied for third in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

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Maurice is a single parent. By coaching Jadyn until she was 14 and advising throughout her collegiate career, Maurice said he’s connected with his daughter through softball. Maurice was part of Jadyn’s decision to start her career at junior college at Chipola instead of in the Southeastern Conference, where she was recruited by Ole Miss and LSU.

Maurice often can’t make it up north from Mississippi, so the two have a ritual. They call after each game to analyze each play.

“Sometimes I have to recharge her,” Maurice said. “It’s almost like getting a jump off the jumper cable. Just to let her know, at the end of the day, we don’t stop.”

Recently, their calls focused on Jadyn getting to first base. Maurice implores her to study the infielders warming up, specifically checking whether the third baseman and catcher field and throw well. Since Jadyn is naturally fast and left-handed, it allows her to play to her strengths.

Jadyn can read whether she’s quick enough to make it to first on either a bunt or slap hit. She’s second on SU in both on-base percentage (.445) and on-base plus slugging (.900). All three of her singles in Syracuse’s last series, against then-No. 25 Louisville, came on bunts.

Perhaps most notable is her .371 batting average on balls in play, meaning that, when she makes contact, she gets on base nearly 40% of the time. Jadyn has slotted in as the Orange’s leadoff or No. 2 batter in 36 of their 41 contests.

“As the leadoff batter, or batting No. 2, we need you to get on base,” Maurice said. “Whether that’s by bunt or walk, do it by any means necessary.”

Throughout nonconference and early ACC play, Jadyn thrived in that role. Her overall batting average hit a season-high .483 after going 3-for-4 in a 5-3 win over Liberty on Feb. 20.

Jadyn followed that performance with a grand slam against UMBC and two consecutive leadoff triples against Providence and UAlbany.

Even when the Orange began their ACC slate 1-9, Jadyn didn’t skip a beat. She hit another grand slam in an 11-6 loss to then-No. 10 Florida State on March 15. She kept her batting average above .400. Despite SU’s “rollercoaster” year, head coach Shannon Doepking praised Burney.

“The most consistency we’ve had is Jadyn Burney,” Doepking told 247Sports. “The rest of the team, we can’t win ball games with just Jadyn, though, right? She’s a hitter that is going to get herself on base, and we need somebody behind her to actually hit her in for it to help.”

In a twist Maurice calls “ironic,” Syracuse began winning, but Jadyn fell into a slump. Across 10 games from April 3-19, where SU went 5-5, Jadyn went 1-for-22 through eight and was benched for the final two matchups. Still, Maurice continued to call Jadyn.

“‘We can’t do nothing about yesterday,’” Maurice recalled telling her the week of the Colgate doubleheader. “‘It’s gone. It’s over. So it’s back to the lab right now.
Let’s get ready for this weekend. Let’s forget all about what (happened before).’”

The aforementioned fruit, lab and jumper cable metaphors aren’t the only ones Maurice devised. He’s concocted a multitude of non-softball situations to advise Jadyn’s role on SU. Maybe she’s at a party, adjusting to whatever the DJ plays. Other times, he compares her rebound after her benching to navigating life in a company.

But if you asked Maurice how exactly Jadyn got out of her slump, he’ll tell you it’s all on the field. The fact she outpaces the rest of Syracuse by .034 in batting average and five hits, or that — since Notre Dame — she has a hit in every game.

Of course, he’ll use another metaphor.

“If you play softball long enough, sometimes it’s gonna be dips and daps,” Maurice said. “It’s gonna be that stock market. The number goes up a little bit, comes down a little bit. At the same time, you just weather the storm.”

Published on April 29, 2026 at 10:27 pm
Contact Peter: peterhradosh@gmail.com | @PeterRadosh