Kelly Saco didn’t want to go into extra innings. No one on Syracuse did. And with one swing of the bat, she prevented that from happening.

With runners on first and second and two outs, Saco came up clutch with a walk-off single through the middle to plate a hustling Carey-Leigh Thomas, avoiding more than the seven innings of play.

‘Everyone said there’s no way we’re going to extra innings,’ Saco said. ‘We’re going to get this done.’

Syracuse (19-8) found a way to get it done twice this weekend, earning its wins in contrasting fashion in the Duel in the Dome. On Friday, in the first softball game ever inside the Carrier Dome, Syracuse triumphed with ease, topping Colgate (4-14) 6-0 in front of 806 fans. Saturday was a different story for SU, as it just squeaked by Canisius (4-19) in a 6-5 victory in front of 551 fans. Although SU started out slow in the second game, the Orange never panicked. Instead, down by two runs entering the bottom of the fifth inning, SU received a boost from an unlikely source in Saco.

Going into the game, the senior first baseman was batting just .104 and was hitless in her last 10 at-bats. But she broke out at the right time for Syracuse. Saco finished the game with two hits, two walks and an RBI.

‘Good at bats. That’s what she had,’ SU head coach Leigh Ross said. ‘The whole time she just had great at bats.’

Early on, Ross wasn’t too pleased with SU’s effort against Canisius, a team that came into the game on a 10-game losing streak. Ross said she felt her team expected a win before it even took the field.

And it showed as the Golden Griffins stuck around against Syracuse.

‘We came here a little too lackadaisical,’ Ross said. ‘I think we came here thinking we’d put our uniforms on and we just automatically somehow get a win and it doesn’t require hard work sometimes and we’d just go through the motions, and that’s what I think I saw today and that’s unacceptable.’

The lackadaisical play by Syracuse had the Orange trailing late. Canisius center fielder Lizzy Gatto, who Ross called a ‘monster,’ launched a three-run homer that hugged the left field foul pole off SU starting pitcher Jenna Caira to help her team take a 5-3 lead into the top of the fifth inning.

On a previous full-count pitch, the senior retired Gatto on a changeup. But when Caira went to her reliable off-speed stuff one more time on the same count, the right-handed slugger made her pay.

‘I happened to throw it again and she sat on it, so that was just a smart approach on her part,’ Caira said afterward. ‘Maybe I could have done something different, but it’s part of the game and couldn’t do anything about it now.’

Although down to a lesser Canisius squad, Syracuse wasn’t concerned and chipped away at the two-run lead, scoring a run apiece in its final three innings.

Lisaira Daniels got one run back, flashing her opposite field power to left field with a round tripper that landed in the metal Dome stands.

And then in the bottom of the sixth, Syracuse took advantage of miscues and wild pitching by Canisius. Thomas, Julie Wambold and Saco all walked to start the rally.

With the bases loaded, senior Morgan Nandin hit a ground ball right at shortstop Katie Lancellotti, who threw home on time, but catcher Stephanie Pfentner dropped the ball. That tied the game 5-5, but the Orange couldn’t break through to take the lead with the next three batters all having unproductive at bats.

Still, Ross was confident that once the Orange tied it, it would find a way to pull through.

‘When we tied it up in the sixth, I kind of had a feeling that we could take care of it in the seventh,’ Ross said.

And that’s what SU did when Thomas poked an innocent single through the middle to start its seventh-inning rally. Then Wambold reached on an error by the Canisius second baseman.

That set up Saco perfectly, who needed a hit just as much as her team needed one delivered.

‘Just wanted to be able to step up for my team, so it was a good opportunity to,’ Saco said.

dgproppe@syr.edu

Published on March 25, 2012 at 12:00 pm