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Yamila Evans came up to bat trying to salvage Syracuse’s season. Down 4-1 in the bottom of the 7th, the Orange needed a rally to stay alive in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament. Evans floated a weak ball to shallow center field. With FSU shortstop Josie Muffley backing up, center fielder Jahni Kerr called her off and made the catch for the first out.

On the next at-bat, Rebecca Clyde also flew out, this time to right field. Down to the final out, graduate student Geana Torres stepped up to the plate. She bounced a slow roller to Muffley who fired to first base, ending the game.

The quiet at-bats in the 7th inning perfectly encapsulated Syracuse’s (24-26-1, 7-15-1 ACC) 4-1 loss to Florida State (48-8, 22-2 ACC) in the ACC tournament quarterfinals. After a confident start, in which the Orange took the lead, SU fell quiet over the latter half of the game. Beyond the second inning, the Orange didn’t record a single hit and only registered one baserunner against Makenna Reid and ACC pitcher of the year Kathryn Sandercock.

It was always going to be an uphill battle facing Florida State. FSU outscored Syracuse 23-1 during the teams’ three meetings in the regular season, defeating them by the run rule twice. The Seminoles have put together a dominant season and entered the postseason as the top seed in the ACC. Florida is ranked No. 3 overall in the country.

Despite being underdogs, Syracuse came out with confidence. The Orange were riding high off its 8-2 win over Virginia in the first round and continued their momentum by swinging early in counts.

Laila Alves led off the second inning with a walk before advancing to third on back-to-back ground balls from Tessa Galipeau and Clyde.

Then, Madelyn Lopez stepped up to the plate with two outs. The freshman poked a ball through the hole up the middle to give Syracuse a 1-0 advantage. Lopez’s hit was her 11th RBI this season and gave Syracuse its first lead against the Seminoles all season. However, for the rest of the game Syracuse remained hitless.

Reid entered the game in the third inning to shut SU down. Her first inning was an easy 1-2-3, getting two Syracuse batters to strikeout. Reid dominated every batter she faced, often getting ahead 0-2 in the counts. She ended the game with three strikeouts, no hits allowed and issued just one walk in her 12th win this season.

The only time Reid ran into trouble was in the fourth inning. Florida State had just taken the lead with a three run bottom of the third and Syracuase was looking to respond. Galipeau drew a walk with one out and Kate Dorazio came in to pinch run. The freshman advanced to second on Reid’s wild pitch to Clyde. On the ensuing pitch Clyde laid down a bunt, advancing Dorazio to third and bringing up Lopez again with two outs. This time it was a different story. Lopez fell behind 0-2 and popped up a pitch along the Florida State dugout which Kalei Harding snagged to end the inning.

Syracuse’s offense has been inconsistent throughout the year, ranking second-to-last in the ACC in total runs. The Orange are also positioned second-to-last in home runs and slugging percentage. Against FSU, the Orange had limited hard-hit balls. Many of the outs were easy grounders to shallow parts of the infield or softly hit floaters to the outfield.

“Our pitchers have been really good for us when our offense hasn’t,” Syracuse head coach Shannon Doepking told CitrusTV earlier in the season.

On the defensive side, Lindsey Hendrix was solid on the mound, pitching six innings and allowing four runs to one of the best offenses in the ACC. Hendrix kept the Orange within striking distance, but the offense didn’t produce enough baserunners.

Syracuse rarely got in positions to put pressure on the defense. Orange batters were coming up with the bases empty and had no chance to cut into FSU’s lead. Once SU fell behind, the Seminoles never looked back.

The Seminoles brought in Sandercock to pitch the last two innings. She made quick work of Syracuse’s hitters. The conference pitcher of the year was third in the conference in ERA (1.22) and second in wins (21). Sandercock recorded her eighth save of the year, retiring the final six batters in a row.

Without a strong enough resume to make the NCAA softball tournament, Syracuse’s season is over. The Orange had the youngest team in the ACC and showed flashes throughout the year, but ultimately their inconsistency came back to bite them. Today, it was yet another absence at-bat.

Published on May 11, 2023 at 3:23 pm

Contact Zak: zakwolf784254@gmail.com | @ZakWolf22