At times this season, Jenna Caira has lost her focus on the mound. Her Syracuse softball teammates have caught the junior pitcher looking around instead of focusing on the batter. Fellow juniors Kelly Saco, Stephanie Watts, and Lacey Kohl have been quick to let her know about it.

‘They’ll call time,’ Caira said. ‘And they just know the little things what to say.’ 

Caira’s concentration lapses have only been a minor problem as Syracuse (16-3) has rolled through its early-season schedule to the program’s first-ever national ranking. The Orange, ranked No. 25 in the USA Today/NFCA poll, is looking to fix the little things this weekend at the Spring Break Invitational in Charlottesville, Va.

SU will take on the host Virginia (12-9), Fordham (9-10), and Princeton (1-2) in its final tournament before opening Big East play at Rutgers on Mar. 26. For the Orange, it is a chance to continue improving and to fine-tune its play.

SU has won nine of its last 10 games. Everything is clicking for the team right now. But it still has plenty to work on.

Syracuse head coach Leigh Ross said she wants to see her team stay focused on every play in every game. The excitement surrounding the team’s national ranking makes that goal harder to accomplish. But it also makes it that much more important.

‘You just keep focusing on the right now, the present,’ Ross said. ‘So that’s what we’re going to work on.’

Ross said the team needs that focus when opponents are threatening offensively. Even after winning four games comfortably last weekend, the head coach is worried about her team in pressure situations. Ross is still thinking about its streak of five straight one-run victories in California two weeks ago.

She knows any of those games could have easily gone the other way. And though her team has escaped many tough spots early this season, Ross wants to see her team avoid the jams all together. She said one big inning can be the difference in a game.

‘We’ve been able to get out of them the last few weekends,’ Ross said. ‘But I’d like to not get into those jams in the first place.’

Caira said despite the team’s historic start, SU hasn’t been perfect. Her concentration issues apply to the whole team. The Orange hasn’t been as sharp as it could be in every game.

‘Sometimes we tend to fluctuate a little bit during the games,’ Caira said. ‘One small loss of concentration can hurt us.’

The struggle may not hurt the Orange against weaker competition this weekend, but it won’t be able to take plays off in conference play. And the pressure has only grown with the recent national recognition.

The team wants to prove it belongs among the nation’s best. And after being picked to finish fourth in the Big East before the season, junior Lisaira Daniels said SU wants to carry its momentum into conference play.

Daniels said the team can’t get caught up in its early success.

‘Let’s not ride on this,’ Daniels said. ‘Because next thing you know, we’re back down the list of actually being fourth in Big East and actually staying there.’

The team’s veteran leadership should prevent the ranking from becoming a distraction. Ross said the junior class has elevated the program. After three years together, they control the atmosphere and attitude in the locker room and on the field.

‘They really know each other well,’ Ross said. ‘When you know each other that well, you know how to pump each other up and you know how to pick someone up.’

Watts said her class keeps the younger players focused. And as they have with Caira, the juniors also challenge each other. Caira said that chemistry will help them continue to succeed in pressure situations.

And when the team gets in another jam, it will call time. The infield will meet in the circle to relax and refocus.

‘We all just know that we need a timeout out for a second,’ Caira said. ‘We just come back together, take a deep breath, and just get back in it.’

rjgery@syr.edu

Published on March 9, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Ryne: rjgery@syr.edu