Two straight walks had SU threatening. But the next play, Rachel Burkhardt grounded out to shortstop for the final out. It left the two runners left stranded, a sign of what was to come in the next few innings.

Syracuse (21-18, 5-11 Atlantic Coast) left 10 runners on base over the course of the first four innings in its 4-3 win over Louisville (24-17, 7-7). When SU got on base, it struggled to capitalize.

“Sometimes it’s tough, it’s not an easy situation to be in,” junior Alicia Hansen said. “…we have to get mentally past ‘don’t leave them on.’”

While SU struggled to bring players home, those chances hardly came. A 1-2-3 inning in the fifth furthered the Orange’s offensive struggles.

The sixth inning went similarly. Hansen doubled at the start of the inning, giving SU its first baserunner since the bottom of the fourth. Then senior Sammy Fernandez singled and Hansen started to run home. Louisville worked the ball in to catcher Jenna Jordan, who met Hansen at the plate, tagging her out. The closest SU had gotten to a run in a few innings stretch remained just that.

It didn’t end there though. After the play at home, Fernandez continued running to second. Jordan threw the ball to teammate Maddy Newman, who successfully performed the double play. The next batter, Bryce Holmgren, flew out to right field to end the inning. Albeit different, it was once again a 1-2-3 inning. SU’s bats finally started to work, but no runners remained on the basepaths.

“It’s just us being aggressive and aggressive base running,” head coach Mike Bosch said. “… Unfortunately, things didn’t go our way in those situations.”

SU’s offensive futility was apparent when players got on. In the second inning, Sammy Fernandez popped a ball up along the first base side. A Louisville player got under the ball and caught it to retire the inning with bases loaded. The third inning ended in similar fashion when Lailoni Mayfield flew out to center field.

“We definitely noticed as a whole that we were leaving runners on,” Hansen said. “… Sammy was on with bases loaded, there were a lot of people that were up with runners on base.”

In the bottom of the fourth, Fernandez was on third base when Holmgren was up to bat. The outfielder was hit by a pitch and jogged to first. Holmgren watched the pitcher, waiting for her opportunity to steal. While Gabby Teran was watching the pitch come toward her, Holmgren stole second. The catcher threw to the same base in an attempt to get an out but Holmgren beat the ball. Fernandez turned the steal into a double steal as she ran home to get the second run of the game.

Teran’s ensuing single put runners on first and second with one out. But, following suit, the next two players struck out to end the inning. Once again, with runners on.

“Don’t go down looking, go down swinging, at least put up a fight if you’re going to do it,” Hansen said. “In that case, we came together and were able to push hits through with people on base.”

Published on April 13, 2018 at 9:47 pm

Contact Kaci: klwasile@syr.edu