Syracuse reaps benefits from mid-game plate adjustments in 5-0 win over Niagara

Off the bat, it looked like two bases. Rachel Burkhardt sent a deep fly near the right-field fence, but Niagara’s Jessica Chandler turned her back to the plate and made a smooth over-the-shoulder catch to haul it in. One out in the fourth.

Thirteen batters in, the Orange had managed just one hit against Niagara’s Jennifer Szilagyi, a freshman right-hander whose finesse arsenal kept Syracuse at bay through three innings. SU hitters were well ahead of her fastball, pulling a number of pitches foul and into the dugout.

But midway into its second trip through the order, Syracuse (14-14, 1-5 Atlantic Coast) adapted to Szilagyi’s slower fastball. A four-run fourth inning powered the Orange past Niagara (2-12) 5-0 in the second game of a doubleheader at SU Softball Stadium on Wednesday.

“When you’re playing different type teams, you just want to adjust to the pitching,” SU head coach Mike Bosch said. “Pitching wise, you’re going to see up and down, and different variety, you just got to be able to adjust fast.”

During its three-game series at No. 10 Florida State last weekend, SU managed to score only three runs. Bosch said Niagara pitchers threw with slower velocity and at lower spin rates than did FSU pitchers. In both game one and game two on Wednesday, it took the Orange only one trip though the order to adjust to the slower pitching.

Eddie Natal | Staff Photographer

Alicia Hansen started the fourth inning rally with a single. Hannah Dossett and Danielle Chitkowski, the subsequent batters, both reached, leaving the bases juiced for Alyssa Dewes. At the time, there was just one out and Syracuse leadoff batter Sammy Fernandez was on deck.

Fernandez entered Wednesday as SU’s leader in runs scored, with 13, and had already scored in the first inning of game two. In game one, she had three hits.

So, Niagara replaced Szilagyi with Bridget Hogan. Like her predecessor, Hogan did not throw particularly hard.

Down in the count 1-2, Dewes fouled off a couple of two-strike pitches before scoring Hansen with a sac fly. That brought Fernandez to the plate for what would already be her third at bat of the game. On the first pitch, she smacked a base hit to left, scoring Dossett.

The next batter, Maddi Doane, fell behind with two strikes. But Doane reached on another Niagara error, the Purple Eagles’ second of the inning. It scored Fernandez, the Orange’s fourth run of the inning.

The fourth inning rally stemmed from the adjustments Syracuse batters made. Most of them crept up in the box to help them stay back and avoid shifting their weight too early toward the pitcher.

“One game we’ll have our toes on the line, the next game we’ll have our feet up in the box,” Fernandez said. “We just kind of adjust every at bat.”

The four-run fourth was powered by three hits and two errors. Dossett said she crept up in the box, but also made herself more selective. She knew she could not be overpowered as only one Syracuse batter struck out in game two.

“I swung at a changeup on one, so I made sure my next at bat not to swing at changeups unless I got two strikes,” said Dossett, who scored a run and reached base twice in game two.

Although it left eight on base in the game, including two in the fourth, Syracuse’s plate adjustments led it to victory.