Syracuse ends No. 13 Clemson’s 19-game winning streak with walk-off single
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Syracuse trailed 6-5 in the bottom of the seventh when catcher Geana Torres came to the plate. With the bases loaded and one out, Torres was hitting just .167 on the season and had two hits since April 10. But with the game on the line against the No. 13 Tigers — who hadn’t lost in 19 games — Torres delivered. Her single back up the middle scored the tying and winning runs as Clemson’s center fielder, McKenzie Clark, fumbled the ball.
In the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, the Orange (20-22, 12-19 Atlantic Coast) picked up their first win in 15 tries against ranked teams this season. Toni Martin recorded four RBIs over the two games on her Senior Day and Torres’ walk-off single against the Tiger’s (39-5, 28-5) Valerie Cagle, who leads the ACC with an 0.99 ERA and 25 wins, helped SU end its six-game losing streak.
“At some point this program’s gotta get to a point where we’re not satisfied with (just) hanging in with a team like Clemson,” head coach Shannon Doepking said postgame. “That obviously was one of the best pitchers in the ACC, and the way we put the ball in play, the way we swung it for a team that has struggled offensively all season, I think was really, really awesome to see.”
Torres’ clutch hit came after SU blew 2-0 lead in the first game of the day and lost. Martin had knocked in two runs with a double in the second inning, but in the top of the third, freshman Lindsey Hendrix walked Grace Mattimore on four pitches to load the bases. The next batter, Alia Logoleo, hit a grounder past Hendrix that Gabby Teran fielded. Teran flipped the ball to Neli Casares-Maher, who made the bare-handed catch for what appeared to be the final out of the inning. But the second-base umpire ruled Mattimore safe, allowing a run to score and the inning to continue.
The Orange’s dugout, and the parents in attendance, complained about the call as Doepking argued with the umpire and pitching coach Michael Steuerwald came out of the dugout to tell the home plate “you gotta be better.” Hendrix ended the inning by striking out Morgan Johnson swinging. While Doepking smiled after the strikeout, Steuerwald again exited the dugout to complain to the umpires, and this time he was ejected from the game. Postgame, Doepking said the frustration came from the call at second base as well as having to pitch into small strike zones all season.
After cutting into Syracuse’s lead two innings earlier, Marissa Guimbarda launched a 2-run homer into deep center field to put Clemson up 3-2, a lead it wouldn’t relinquish. The Orange went down in order in the bottom of the seventh, losing their sixth straight game.
But down 1-0 in the second inning of the latter game, Lailoni Mayfield lifted a fly ball into right field. Guimbarda tried to make the backhanded catch, but couldn’t, and the ball dropped, allowing Mayfield to reach second base. With a runner in scoring position, Martin was able to propel SU in front by drilling a line-drive home run over the right field fence.
After Rebecca Clyde worked a full-count walk, Calista Almer hit an awkwardly-bouncing grounder to first. The ball kicked off the foot of the first baseman Kyah Keller and into right field, moving Clyde to third and Almer to second. Paris Woods drove both of them in the next at-bat by hitting a hard ground ball to shortstop and beating the ensuing throw to first.
Syracuse’s three-run lead didn’t last. Cagle — who is also Clemson’s leader in batting average and home runs — knocked a 3-run homer of her own into right field off Kaia Oliver. SU retook the lead in the bottom half of the inning, but Cagle hit a line-drive home run over the left-center field fence in the top of the fifth, tying the game. She tacked on another RBI in the top of the seventh to give Clemson a 6-5 lead going into SU’s final turn at-bat.
Syracuse snapped Clemson’s 19-game win streak on Saturday afternoon at home. Elizabeth Billman | Senior Staff Photographer
On Friday, Cagle struck out 10 Orange hitters and only allowed two runs over a seven-inning complete game performance. She was unable to find the same results in the pitcher’s circle Saturday, allowing nine hits and seven runs, and recording just her fourth loss of the season.
Facing the middle part of Syracuse’s order in the bottom of the seventh, Cagle kept the ball in the infield. Casares-Maher hit a slow dribbler down the third base line, allowing her to beat the throw to leadoff the inning. Teran followed that up by knocking a hard grounder to third, and third baseman Casey Bigham made the diving spot and throw from her knees, all for Keller to drop it at first. Mayfield added another infield single, loading the bases for Martin, who was batting .194 this season.
Martin couldn’t convert, and Torres stepped up. The catcher had recorded 13 hits in her first season at Syracuse after hitting .429 at University of Louisiana at Lafayette last season, knocked her 14th back up the middle to win the game for SU.
“The odds say the kid’s due for a hit at some point,” Doepking said. “I don’t think she was intimidated by the moment. That helps in these situations when the game’s on the line.”
Doepking said she hopes winning the second game of the doubleheader will help SU settle into big games against top-25 teams like Clemson. She said that the Orange still don’t expect to win games like these, but moving forward, wins like those will help turn Syracuse into a top-tier ACC team.
“We’ve been at the bottom of the ACC for a really long time,” Doepking said. “We got to learn to win here … I think we’re still working toward that, we’re not quite there. This win helps with that and showing these guys we can do this.”