Sydney O’Hara hits 3 home runs and drives in 8 of Syracuse’s 11 runs in doubleheader split

Sydney O’Hara’s walk-up song told it all.

She dug into the batter’s box to the tune of “Feeling Myself” by Nicki Minaj and Beyonce. The song’s lyrics, “They ready, let’s go, I’m feelin’ myself,” played overhead as she approached the plate in seven of her 11 at bats Saturday.

In each of them, the junior wasn’t just ready, she was feeling it at the plate in both games of a doubleheader that lasted six hours and eight minutes between Syracuse and Georgia Tech at SU Softball Stadium. O’Hara reached base in seven at-bats on the day, smoked three home runs, batted in eight of Syracuse’s 11 runs and hit a walk-off double in game one to give the Orange (17-16, 4-7 Atlantic Coast) an 8-7 win in 13 innings over Georgia Tech (14-21, 3-8). She also clocked a solo shot in game two, a game SU dropped 4-3 in eight innings.

“I don’t want to say I wasn’t expecting it,” freshman Hannah Dossett said, “but I don’t really expect anybody to do that.”

At 2:07 p.m., before snowflakes began to fall, O’Hara launched a three-run shot to right-center field to give the Orange a 4-1 lead. The ball didn’t seem to be on its descent when it hit a pine tree beyond the fence.

At 2:50 p.m., she smacked the first pitch of the sixth inning over the fence in right-center to give SU a 5-3 lead. At 4:51 p.m., three hours and 31 minutes after first pitch, her 13th-inning liner to left-center field scored Andrea Bombace to give Syracuse the 8-7 win.

At 7:48 p.m., six hours and 28 minutes after the day’s first pitch, she hit her third home run of the day, an eighth-inning moonshot to left-center. It was her final at bat on a day in which she scored three runs and went 5-for-9 overall at the plate.

Three of her five hits were to the opposite field, which, for the left-handed-hitting O’Hara, was the product of a week’s worth of work. Assistant coach Kristyn Sandberg had stressed driving outside pitches to left with the junior, which is exactly what she did to contribute to her breakout day.

“That was my biggest goal for the week,” O’Hara said, “to work on outside pitches and really driving them the other way.”

During batting practice this week, O’Hara and some teammates hit against Hack Attack machines that simulated Georgia Tech pitching. For O’Hara, that meant a lot of outside pitches.

Assistant coach Alisa Goler said the opposite field is “where it needs to be” for O’Hara. When she’s going the other way, O’Hara’s swing is in sync. When O’Hara’s struggling, that gives Goler an indication that driving the outside pitch the other way needs to be a focal point the next time in the cage.

“Any day that (O’Hara) is going well to opposite field is a day that she’s really feeling her swing,” Goler said. “We work on that a lot in practice. With her being a lefty power-hitter, she’s going to get outer-half (pitches) a lot more than most.”

O’Hara said she’s been seeing the ball a lot better because of one adjustment in particular. To get her hips through, she has focused on her lower half, specifically her feet.

“I took out my stride because when I over-stride, I over-swing,” O’Hara said. “I just kept it with no stride and put the heel down, drive the ball.”

Last weekend against Notre Dame, O’Hara went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. She entered Saturday 3-for-15 with seven strikeouts since Mar. 19.

But in game one against Georgia Tech ace Emily Anderson, who entered Saturday fourth in the ACC in strikeouts (106) and third in innings pitched (139.2), O’Hara went off. Then again in game two.

And now, after mechanical adjustments and a day of domination, she sits tied for second on Syracuse in home runs with five and one RBI behind Corinne Ozanne for the team-high of 20.

“She took what we worked on in practice,” Goler said, “and made it happen in the game.”