Syracuse offense stalls after quick first inning, but does just enough in 3-1 win over North Carolina

With runners on second and third, Syracuse first baseman Sydney O’Hara swung at the first pitch she saw, a change up on the bottom outside corner. She ripped a grounder to left field, under the glove of North Carolina shortstop Taylor Wike. Sammy Fernandez scored and Alicia Hansen advanced to third, scoring later that inning.

“We went up there looking for first pitches,” Syracuse head coach Mike Bosch said. “If you can get them right out of the box you give yourself an advantage.”

Syracuse (26-16, 7-9 Atlantic Coast) started off the game with an explosive two-run first inning, but only scored three runs against North Carolina (35-13, 13-6) this Saturday afternoon at Skytop Stadium. Those three runs was all it needed as it held the Tar Heels to a single run on four hits. Coming into the game Syracuse had only three wins all season when scoring three or fewer runs.

SU was aggressive early on, crowding the plate, swinging at first pitches and attacking the corners of the strike zone against starter Brittany Pickett, who entered the contest with a 20-2 record and an earned run average under 2.00.

In the bottom of the first, the top of the Orange lineup attacked the freshman lefty. Fernandez led with a leadoff slap single in between the shortstop and third baseman before Hansen sent a bomb to the warning track for a double, moving Fernandez to third. O’Hara then drove in Fernandez on the first pitch she saw and the lineup continued its aggressiveness.

Although the inning ended with two runs, the team still left runners stranded on second and third.

After only allowing one hit in the second inning, Pickett struck out the side in the third, shutting down O’Hara and Bryce Holmgren on four pitches, before winning an eight-pitch battle with SU designated hitter Faith Cain. Cain got down in a 1-2 count before fouling off four consecutive pitches. Cain was making good contact against Pickett, but the lefty sent a riser Cain’s way and fooled the DH, who swung low.

“I thought we quit being aggressive on first strikes,” Bosch said. “We started getting behind in the count and when you let a pitcher like that get ahead in the count you’re just asking for trouble.”

The team thought it finally found some new life in the bottom of the fourth. After Pickett forced two easy outs while dominating the count, Syracuse catcher Olivia Martinez ripped the first pitch she saw to deep left field. Assistant coach Kristyn Sandberg was at first base watching the ball about to go out of the park.

“I was under the impression that it went over just because of the way (Sandberg) reacted to it,” Martinez said.

Fans in the crowd rose to their feet, yelling, filling the stadium with a collective ‘ooooooohhhhhhh’, only to be followed by disappointment. The ball landed on the top of the wall and rolled back into left field. What looked like a home run only ended up as a single.

“How does that not just fall over,” a fan in the crowd yelled.

Bosch had the same reaction, as the head man marched out to second base to get an answer from an umpire, knowing another run could be crucial to a win.

“He saw it hit the top of the fence and come back,” Bosch said. “And I asked if a ball could physically do that.”

Following the single, Pickett forced an easy groundout to stall the SU offense again.

Syracuse lucked out in the fifth inning. Alicia Hansen sent another deep ball to left center field, which landed just short of clearing the fence. But as UNC left fielder Micaela Abbatine hit the wall to catch it, and the ball slipped through her glove, resulting in a three-base error. Holmgren drove Hansen in two batters later to give SU three runs, its total for the day.

“We’d love if we could kill every team,” Hansen said. “But three (runs) ended up being enough today because of great pitching and great defense.”

Throughout the season, the Orange hasn’t fared well in low-scoring, close games. The pitching and defense have played well, but the offense can’t create enough to get by. This Saturday, against a 20-win pitcher, the offense needed just two runs to win, but earned three. Just enough.