Syracuse splits season-opening doubleheader; loses to IUPUI but beats North Florida
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To commence the 2023 season, Syracuse (1-1, 0-0 Atlantic Coast) split a doubleheader against IUPUI (1-1, 0-0 Horizon League) and North Florida (1-1, 0-0 Atlantic Sun) in the River City Leadoff, hosted by UNF in Jacksonville, Florida. The Orange began the day with a 6-5 loss to the Jaguars before a 10-4 drubbing over the Ospreys.
Against IUPUI, The Orange opted to start freshman Jackie Pengel in the circle for her first career start. The righty walked her first batter, and responded by sitting down the next three Jaguars for a scoreless top half.
Pengel didn’t start to feel the heat until the third inning, where she allowed an RBI single from the Jaguars’ Kayla Freiberg. At that point, Pengel’s debut was over. She threw for 2.1 innings and was replaced by Lindsey Hendrix.
SU took advantage of Pengel’s first inning. Angel Jasso led off with a double into left. The Orange proceeded to load the bases before Jasso scored the first run of the season off a wild pitch from IUPUI’s Carly Metcalf.
Metcalf then threw a second wild pitch in the inning, this time bringing home Ryan Starr to make it 2-0. SU couldn’t score anymore in the first though, and left the frame with three runners on base.
IUPUI evened the game at two once Hendrix took over. Jordan Jenkins hit a soft pop up in the direction of Hendrix, but the junior couldn’t corral it, a costly error that allowed Kelli Riordan to cross home plate.
In the bottom of the third, the first three Syracuse batters loaded the bases and Ryan Gallegos scored when Rebecca Clyde took a walk, giving the Orange a 3-2 lead. Angie Ramos continued the scoring, driving a single into shallow left field and bringing Taylor Posner home and go up two.
To start the fourth inning, Maicey Bedrick sent a no-doubt solo home run over Ramos’ head, making it 4-3. That was followed by more fielding struggles from Hendrix, as she overthrew Tessa Galipeau at first base.
The Jaguars were able to tie the game after another Freiberg single brought Calvert home. Hendrix’s location struggles persisted, as IUPUI took a 5-4 lead in the fourth inning.
This ended Hendrix’s season debut, giving Kaia Oliver the relief opportunity. Oliver swiftly ended the top half of the inning with a Victoria Sivert fly out. However, the Orange went down 1-2-3 to close out the fourth inning, the first time IUPUI held the lead after a full inning.
In the bottom half of the fifth, Syracuse got ducks on the pond early. Then, Jasso stepped up and delivered her second hit of the day, driving home the tying run with a single into left-center field.
For IUPUI, Freiberg kept on mashing the softball. In the top of the sixth, she doubled to the right-center wall and gave the Jaguars a 6-5 lead. The catcher had three hits and three RBI’s in the contest and was the main catalyst for their offense.
Oliver finished the day with 3.1 IP, and only one earned run.
With two runners on in the seventh, Jasso stepped up again. Taking a big hack at the first pitch, she drove the ball into center field. It was a deep shot, near the warning track, and Calvert couldn’t glove the ball, giving the Orange an extra life.
But with the game on the line, SU couldn’t capitalize on Calvert’s error. Leaving a total of 13 runners on base, the Orange dropped to 0-1.
However, Syracuse ended with a dominant victory over North Florida, 10-4.
The game started four hours later than originally scheduled due to rain. But, like the previous outing, the Orange had no trouble getting on the board early. Syracuse had plenty of baserunners after two errors from North Florida’s Hadlee Reichert. The half inning was capped off by Laila Alves’ two-run single to right field to give SU a 4-0 advantage.
Alves had herself a game against UNF. In the top of the second inning with the bases loaded, the catcher singled up the middle this time and drove in two more runs, giving SU a 7-0 lead. She ended the contest with a game-high four RBI’s.
Syracuse went with freshman Madison Knight in the circle for the back end of the doubleheader after being SU’s designated hitter in game one.
Despite it being her first start, Knight registered 5.0 IP and allowed just two earned runs with four strikeouts.
Knight created her own offensive insurance at the plate as well, bringing Jasso and Starr home with a 2-run single into center field in the third inning. At that point, the SU lead grew to a whopping 9-0. And in the fifth inning, Knight doubled to the right-center wall on a full count pitch. She went 2-for-4 at the dish and walked once in game two.
Jasso, meanwhile, continued her contributions from game one. In the top of the second, the Texas native slugged one over the right field wall for Syracuse’s first home run of the season, increasing the Orange lead to 5-0. The outfielder led SU with four hits across the doubleheader.
The onslaught kept rolling as Syracuse increased its lead to 10-1 in the fourth inning.
Ramos quietly stuffed the stat sheet as well, going 3-for-7 at the plate on the day and driving two runs in.
The Ospreys scored a combined three runs in the fifth and sixth inning after being down by as much as nine. But, Hendrix redeemed her initial relief appearance by tossing two scoreless innings.
