When Lindsay Taylor entered the game in the seventh inning against Yale last weekend, she threw her first in-game pitch in more than a year.

After partially tearing the labrum in her right arm, Taylor underwent surgery in June during which her bicep was folded over the labrum to tighten her shoulder.

“She’s overcome a lot of adversity,” Syracuse pitching coach Mike Bosch said.

Three days after closing out Yale, Taylor started and pitched two innings against Hartford, marking the first game this season that neither Jocelyn Cater nor Sydney O’Hara started. When Lindsey Larkin pitched the final five innings, it became the first game that neither Cater nor O’Hara pitched at all.

Taylor’s return gives Syracuse (12-14, 0-3 Atlantic Coast) more flexibility while allowing its two aces to rest. Cater and O’Hara have combined to log nearly 90 percent of SU’s innings. While still on a pitch count, Syracuse expects Taylor to rack up more innings this weekend when it faces ACC foe Boston College (14-13, 0-6) in a Saturday doubleheader and Sunday matchup in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

“I don’t think she’s quite at the point where she can throw seven innings for us,” Bosch said, “but anything she can give us is greatly appreciated right now because a pitching staff is only as good as every little piece on it.”

After operating almost entirely with a two-pitcher rotation for the first five weeks of the season, Cater said she finally feels like SU has a pitching staff.

As Taylor continues to work her way back from injury, the staff will only grow stronger. This weekend, Taylor will likely pitch up to three innings over the two days, head coach Leigh Ross said.

“(Taylor) just gives us more depth all around and different looks, that’s the key,” Ross said. “Lindsay’s got a great change-up so it’s not necessarily giving someone a break. It’s what’s going to work right now, what’s going to be effective against this team, these hitters.”

Taylor should work particularly well as a change of pace with Cater who throws very hard, Ross said.

A tentative plan for this weekend is to have Taylor pitch an inning or two in the middle of a Cater game to throw Boston College hitters off balance, which Ross said “stinks” for BC.

Cater and O’Hara both hit when they’re not on the mound, so before Taylor offered another starting option, they both played nearly every game.

“It takes a little pressure off me and Sydney,” Cater said. “Every day at practice it impresses me more and more that she’s throwing more and it gets me excited.”

To track her recovery, Taylor’s coaches studied the speed of her pitches during Wednesday’s practice to ensure she stays consistent. As long as Taylor’s speed and technique are steady, her workload can continue to increase, Bosch said.

“I think I’m doing well with my progression,” Taylor said. “I think I’m right where I should be.”

She is concerned about how her arm will react to cold weather, though. Her first two games were in Florida and all of her practices in Syracuse have been indoors, but the team will be outside this weekend.

Like the rest of her rehab, Taylor will see how it goes and base her innings off how she feels.

“At some point of her career in the last six months, eight months, didn’t really know if she’d even be back on the mound,” Bosch said. “To see her back on the mound, awesome.”

Published on March 20, 2015 at 7:49 pm