UPDATED: April 19, 2019 at 7:50 p.m.

As Syracuse trotted back into the home dugout after the top of the first inning, SU head coach Shannon Doepking didn’t walk to her usual position alongside the third base line. Instead, she stood in the dugout as assistant strength and conditioning coach Bryan Ingalls took her place.

Doepking wanted to continue the momentum from the loss to Colgate on Wednesday. When she sat in the dugout in the final inning, the Orange scored one run.

“They were 1-1 with scoring and I’m a superstitious human being so we went for it,” Doepking said. “I’m selfless. I will stay in the dugout and we will be happy and we will continue to score.”

Doepking’s belief was proved true, as the Syracuse bats exploded for 10 runs in the first three innings. Syracuse (19-23, 8-8 Atlantic Coast Conference) eventually defeated Pittsburgh (7-38, 2-14 ACC), 10-0, in only five innings. The Orange knocked home four runs in the first inning, with help from freshman Alexis Kaiser’s two-run homerun. As well, sophomore Neli-Casares Maher returned from a lower-leg injury to total a hit and a walk. SU tallied eight hits in only 21 at-bats.

“Before the game, we all agreed that we just need to compete no matter what. Let’s not be an easy out. Let’s have productive swings and at bats,” sophomore Gabby Teran said. “Today, no one really took an at-bat off.”

In the first inning, SU was already leading by two runs. Sophomore Lailoni Mayfield, who had just scored, recognized that Edwards was throwing more off-speed balls to the outside, Kaiser said. She approached Kaiser and told her to step closer to Pitt pitcher Abby Edwards.

Kaiser did just that. She watched four pitches fly along the outside of the plate: two balls and two strikes. Before the fifth, Kaiser moved even further up in the box and waited for a pitch away, Kaiser said. She cracked the fastball over the pine trees in deep right-center for her fourth home run of the year.

“It felt good especially in the first inning scoring right away, Kaiser said. “That’s what our job is, to make it easier for Lex.”

SU’s success with its bats was uncharacteristic. This was the first time that the Orange scored 10 runs against an ACC opponent. While junior pitcher Alexa Romero typically shuts down the opposing offense with her 2.78 ERA, her shutout performance against the Panthers was well-supported.

In the second and third innings, the Orange added six more runs on only five hits because SU was aided by three Pittsburgh errors. The Orange used advantageous and aggressive baserunning to turn each Panther error into a run, Doepking said.

In the first inning, Teran reached second after an errant throw by the Pittsburgh center fielder. Teran was then singled home by Mayfield. A few batters later, Casares-Maher reached first after a lightly hit ground ball bounced through the legs of Pitt third baseman Morgan Batesole. Casares-Maher then scored on Kaiser’s home run. In the second inning, senior Bryce Holmgren’s hard-hit line drive was fielded by Edwards, but the pitcher tossed the ball into the Pitt dugout. Teran then singled home Holmgren.

“I just think our approaches were super good,” Casares-Maher said. “We were just focused on putting the ball in play.”

That aggressive mentality carried over into the third inning as the Orange put five of its first six batters on base.

With sophomore Alex Acevedo standing on second base and only one out, Kaiser stepped to the plate for her second at-bat. She smacked a single into center-field and Acevedo sprinted towards third.

Doepking, who previously called Acevedo “the slowest base runner on the team,” was not on third base to hold up the stop sign. Instead, Ingalls waived his right arm in the air, signaling for her to head home. Acevedo turned the corner and stepped on home plate with ease, pushing the lead to six runs.

“I don’t understand how the heck she did that because she’s one of the slowest human beings I’ve ever seen,” Doepking said. “For her to be able to score from second, that’s an impressive job on her part and you will not see that very often from that kid.”

CORRECTION: In a previous version of this post, the person coaching at third base was misstated. It was volunteer assistant coach Bryan Ingalls, not Mike Missen. The Daily Orange regrets this error. 

Published on April 19, 2019 at 6:25 pm

Contact Adam: adhillma@syr.edu | @_adamhillman