Orange Softball Headed to NCAA Tournament for Second Straight Year

By Conor Hurley 

The Syracuse University Softball team earned its second consecutive Big East tournament championship and also a second consecutive NCAA tournament bid with a 2-1 victory over Louisville on Saturday.

The Orange (44-11) are now set to play LSU (36-16) in the tournament in College Station, Texas this Friday. The tournament has 64 teams, consisting of 30 automatic, conference-winning bids and 34 at-large bids. There are 16 four-team regional rounds that are in double elimination format.

The Orange are not new to this format as they lost Oklahoma and Maryland in the 2010 regional round in College Park, Maryland.  

The goal for this year is to utilize last year’s experience to have a better performance this time around.

"With the experience we have with the upperclassman and the success that they've had, we are more comfortable in these situations,” SU Head Coach Leigh Ross said. “The team is getting used to winning. We know that LSU is going to be tough, but we faced them last year so we are kind of familiar with what they have."

One of the upperclassmen with success Ross speaks of is undoubtedly the All-Big East selection and conference Pitcher of the Year Jenna Caira, who has a program-best 34 wins this season.

Similar to how an NHL team’s success in the playoffs is very dependent on goaltending, a softball team’s success is dependent on pitching because one ace usually carries the pitching load for the team. If Caira is as terrific as she has been all season in this year’s tournament, the Orange have a legitimate shot to make a title run.

The Orange begin their title run this Friday at 5 p.m. vs. LSU. 

Syracuse Orange Softball: 2011 Big East Champions

By Ben Glidden

The Syracuse Orange Softball team beat Louisville for the second consecutive year to become the 2011 Big East Champions. It was a pitchers duel at Ulmer Stadium in Louisville as it only took one run for the Orange to put away the Cardinals 1-0.

The only run for either team came in the third inning. Kelly Saco got on base with a double and second baseman Stephanie Watts drove her in. The Orange had other opportunities to score but were thrown out at home plate twice by the Louisville center fielder.

The pitching for each team was the story in this game. Louisville starter Tori Collins had an incredible game, giving up just five hits and shutting down Syracuse with nine strikeouts. It was just one instance in the third inning when she showed weakness and the Orange capitalized.

Jenna Caira, the 2011 Big East Pitcher of the Year, didn't bring her best stuff into the game today. But when Caira doesn't bring her best stuff, she still does extremely well. During the game, Syracuse coach Leigh Ross said Caira was just fighting through some nerves. She only gave up five hits but had just four strikeouts.

The Orange won its second consecutive Big East Championship but hopes to perform better this year in the upcoming NCAA Tournament. After an early first round exit last year for the Orange, Syracuse wants to show the nation that the Big East can be a Softball Conference.

Since the Orange won the Big East Championship, the team receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Syracuse will find out when and where it plays Sunday night at 10PM during the Tournament Selection show on ESPNU.

Syracuse Softball Heads to Championship

By Ben Glidden

The #3 seeded Syracuse University Softball team scored two runs in the first inning and thats all it would take to beat the #2 seeded DePaul Blue Demons today at Ulmer Stadium in Louisville. The 2-0 victory propelled the Orange to the Championship for its second straight season and extended its longest win streak in program history to 13 games.

The first of the only two runs of the game came off back to back triples. First a lead off triple from second baseman Stephanie Watts and a RBI triple from Lisaira Daniels followed. The second run came off the bat of third baseman Haillie Gibbs, giving her RBI number 62 of the season.

The real story for the Orange was in the circle as starting pitcher Jenna Caira did what she has done all season. She pitched lights out and earned her 33rd win. She went all seven innings without giving up a run. She gave up just two hits on seven strikeouts to lead the Orange to victory.

Caira completely shut down DePaul's All-Big East First Team selection, Kirsten Verdun. Verdun's slugging percentage this season was .622 and she hit 11 home runs and had 42 RBIs but she was hitless today and stuck out once.

The Orange will face the winner of Louisville and Notre Dame tomorrow at 5PM on ESPN2. But the quest for a second straight Big East title wont necessarily come easy. Syracuse played three games against Louisville this season and won them all, however the Orange was winless against Notre Dame this season.

Orange Slice Sports' Co-Athletes of the Week

By Ben Glidden

Stephen Keogh - Keogh earned Co-Athlete of the week this past Saturday against #1 Notre Dame. He scored four goals and passed Brad Kotz for 10th on Syracuse's career goal list with his 130th. One of his four goals made an appearance on SportCenter's Top Ten Plays of the Night. It was an incredible between the legs shot through a feed from Jovan Miller:

Jenna Caira - Caira was awarded the Big East pitcher of the week award this week for the third time this season. She led the Orange to six wins this week with no losses. She pitched 31 innings and recorded 42 strikeouts, which lowered her opponents batting average to .093 and made her overall season record 27-9.

Congratulations to our Orange Slice Sports Co-Athletes of the Week.

Orange Continue Win Streak

By Darius Joshua

The Syracuse Softball team took a break from the Big East schedule but continued its magical season with a sweep of the Binghamton Bearcats. 

Junior pitcher Jenna Caira also continued her stellar season by winning both games for the Orange with 19 strikeouts on the day. Caira, now 24-9, led the Orange defense in both Bearcat shutouts, the first 5-0 and the second 4-0. 

In the first game she pitched seven innings and allowed only two hits, no walks, no runs, and had eight strikeouts. She also struck out the first three bearcats she faced in the top of the first. In the second game she pitched for six innings allowed one hit, two walks, zero runs, and had eleven strikeouts.

The offense was led by junior outfielder Lasaira Daniels and Senior third basemen Hallie Gibbs. Daniels had four runs and hit .571 in the two game sweep. Gibbs had three RBI and two hits, including a homerun in the two games. 

In game one, the Syracuse offense got off to a quick start with a two run lead in the bottom of the first inning. The runs came off a two-run homer from Gibbs. The Orange didn’t register another run until the bottom of the fifth inning off a three-run bomb from junior catcher Lacy Kohl setting the final score of 5-0.

In the second game Caira started off strong again by striking out the first three batters again. Both teams remained scoreless until the bottom of the third when Gibbs hit a single that allowed Daniels to score the first run of the game. The Orange then scored again in the bottom of the fifth off a two RBI double to right field by Jasmine Watson. The Orange then clinched the victory in the sixth as Junior second basemen Stephanie Watts hit a RBI double to make the final score 4-0. 

The Orange return to the Big East play against Seton Hall on April 30 at 12 p.m. 

Ace Leads Orange Over Big East Rival

By Conor Hurley

There have been two constants this season for the Syracuse Softball team: winning and pitching ace Jenna Caira.

Caira, now 22-9 on the season, led the Orange to a 9-0 victory today over Big East rival Georgetown. The Orange are in the midst of their best season in school history, tallying a 31-11 overall record while being 9-5 in the Big East thus far.

Junior Lacey Kohl and senior Hallie Gibbs also contributed to the win. They each belted two-run homeruns. Gibbs’ HR solidified the shutout, ending the game by the mercy rule.

The second game of the double-header was postponed in the bottom of the second inning due to a severe thunderstorm in the area. It literally looked like the world was about to end, so there was no way there was more softball to be played.

One SU student summed up the severity of the weather situation quite adequately. “Initially I said the storm was a 9 out of 10 with 10 being the worst weather ever. Then I saw Chipotle was flooded, and it automatically became a 10,” the student said.

The Orange play next on Thursday when they host the Binghamton Bearcats. First pitch is at 3:30 p.m.