Jocelyn Cater has been playing international softball since high school.

She joined the Canadian national team at the age of 16 and was one of the youngest females in Canadian softball history to play on the national team.

The Syracuse senior said she was doubted at first but has since proved herself, shining as one of Canada’s elite pitchers at the international level.

This past summer, the national team traveled to the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, with Cater again on the pitching staff. There, the Canadians pulled a 4-2 upset in the championship over the United States and went home with the gold medal. Cater pitched 10.2 innings over four games in the tournament, striking out 11 and walking five. All four of her appearances resulted in no-decisions.

Cater has used international experience like the Pan Am Games to improve her pitching at SU and better handle the pressure of collegiate competition, which starts up for Syracuse this weekend in the Sportco Kick Off Classic in Las Vegas.

“The Pan Am Games was a big moment for me. Our team knew that we just had it, and we knew that we would win it either way,” Cater said. “… Over the years, people start to expect you to get better and better and better.”

Due to transfer rules, Cater saw the field just once in 2014 after transferring from Washington, appearing in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament against Virginia Tech. In 2015, a season which SU head coach Mike Bosch called “basically her freshman year,” Cater threw 182.2 innings, striking out 236 and posting an ERA of 3.79.

“You look at it, compared to other pitchers’ freshman year, she had a really good first year on the mound,” Bosch said, “She was top 20 in the nation in strikeouts, solid ERA, and that’s the part that we want to build on.”

Bosch said he’s seen growth from Cater with her ability in pressure-packed situations.

While she only saw limited time for the Canadian national team, the innings she did see were more pressured than what a player might get out of a typical club softball experience.

“(Cater) got a little more of that ‘I got the ball in pressure situations, I have to get some of these elite hitters out’ mentality,” Bosch said, “But you also want to have the repetitions and doing it over and over again.”

That lack of repetitions is where the offseason, and Cater’s training, has come into play.

The team practices in Manley Field House during the offseason when SU can’t use Skytop Softball Stadium, and fellow senior pitcher Lindsey Larkin said that Cater is always working to hone her pitching indoors.

“She’s so positive about (her training),” Larkin said, “It’s very uplifting. She’s a person who’s very passionate about the game and always wants to learn more.”

From the Pan Am Games over the summer to the bullpen sessions throughout the winter, Cater has been building off the season she had last year.
Now, she has a chance to further affirm her role as a dominant pitcher for the Orange.

“She has come a long way,” Bosch said, “Just from a development standpoint, it’s fun to have a kid like that on the mound.”

Published on February 10, 2016 at 10:23 pm

Contact Matt: mjfel100@syr.edu