Kelly Saco and her teammates are searching for perfection on the diamond. The senior first baseman knows anything less won’t be good enough against the top-notch competition Syracuse will be facing to open the season.

One error, one mental lapse or one pitch left in the heart of the strike zone will prove costly for the Orange. And Saco knows it.

‘It’s going to be tough, and they’re going to be really hard games, kind of games where we can’t afford having errors,’ Saco said. ‘It’s going to be games where we have to play really smart. We can’t make mental mistakes because that’s what’s going to kill us.’

And that daunting schedule in which the Orange hopes not to be haunted by any flaws starts this weekend in the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Ariz. SU plays a doubleheader against Texas State and Cal State Northridge on Friday and another against McNeese State and Arizona on Saturday. The Orange wraps up the weekend Sunday against California.

The rough competition continues throughout the early schedule, leaving SU little time to get back in the swing of things. Most teams have some preseason bumps to flatten out, but if Syracuse wants to start strong, that can’t be the case.

Pitcher Jenna Caira said this is without a doubt the toughest opening part to the season she’s seen in her career at Syracuse. But she is also excited for what lies ahead.

When the senior first took a peak at the schedule, positive thoughts ran through her head. Although she acknowledges the games won’t be easy, she knows for the Orange to improve it has to take on teams that are going to challenge Syracuse from the first pitch to the last.

‘You want to play against the best all day, every day because it’ll make you better, so this is only going to help our program further,’ Caira said ‘… Whoever blinks first is going to lose.’

Caira said that at practices, coaches have been emphasizing every detail of the game. SU head coach Leigh Ross knows little mistakes won’t add up to wins. Something as simple as dropping a ball in practice is going to cost them on game day.

When Ross looks down at the schedule, even she’s taken aback at how difficult the road will be. But she is reassured by the fact that this is easily the deepest team she has with a load of experience around the field.

And with that, she looks forward to going to places like Arizona, California and Florida and showing fans around the nation Syracuse is a force to be feared.

Ross said that started last year when the team won its first-ever NCAA tournament game, but if her team wants to be considered among the best in the nation, it has to keep that trend going into this year.

‘We want to show this year we’re a solid program and not just a flash in the pan,’ Ross said.

And the only way the Orange can prove that is through winning. Last season, Syracuse started the season with five tournaments and an impressive 19-5 record. There was only one time Ross saw her team lose back-to-back games during that 24-game stretch.

But this season is different. The Orange has higher expectations after being picked to finish second in the Big East behind DePaul.

Caira said winning is the expectation for the tests ahead. Saco said despite the necessity to play flawless ball, she and her teammates look forward to the challenge.

As for Ross, she said there’s no room for early-season blunders that most softball teams experience. When the Orange takes its flight to the West Coast on Thursday, it better be prepared.

‘This isn’t a regular preseason. You can’t use this as a ‘let’s get ready for Big East,” Ross said. ‘We need to be ready right now.’

dgproppe@syr.edu 

Published on February 8, 2012 at 12:00 pm