The only thing that matched the elation of the Syracuse mob gathered around winning runner Lindsay Wasek at home plate following the Orange’s 10-9, 10-inning win against Villanova on Sunday was the solemnity of the SU dugout after an 11-3, five-inning trouncing two hours later.

It was a fitting end to the regular season for a Syracuse squad plagued by inconsistency all year. SU split doubleheaders with both Rutgers and Villanova during the weekend, losing the second game of both contests.

While splitting doubleheaders with Rutgers and Villanova is not a disastrous result, it was one that left the Orange players and coaches disappointed in the team’s continued inability to build on success from previous games.

‘It’s telling of the whole season and it’s just really frustrating,’ Syracuse freshman pitcher Brittany Gardner said of the team’s weekend results. ‘One person does something, and it seems like we just fall apart. Things just snowball after that, we can never get an out and get out of it.’

The Orange followed up Saturday’s 5-2 victory over Rutgers with an uninspired, 5-2 loss to the Scarlet Knights that saw the Orange collect no hits over the game’s final four innings.

On Sunday, Syracuse rebounded from its exhilarating, extra-inning triumph over Villanova with an ugly, mercy-rule shortened affair.

More than anything, the weekend was characterized by sloppy play in the field by Syracuse. The Orange, which currently sits seventh in the Big East, committed seven errors during the course of the weekend’s four games – including four in the finale against Villanova. Of the 11 Wildcat runs in that game, only three were earned.

Errors and shaky defensive play have been a problem all year for the Orange, Syracuse associate coach Kyle Jamieson said

‘The games that you look back on that we lost in the Big East, a lot of them can be traced back to where we’ve had four or five out innings,’ Jamieson said. ‘Any time you do that you’re going to allow runs.’

The frustration reached a high point on Sunday during a Syracuse pitching change in the fourth inning. As pitcher Keri Casas was warming up, Syracuse head coach Leigh Ross called a meeting for the remainder of her players in centerfield.

Ross said she used the meeting to vent her frustration with the team’s lack of focus and defensive effort.

‘You got to make those plays, there’s no reason you should make those mistakes,’ Ross said. ‘I mean four errors in four innings? And those are just the ones in the book, there’s mental errors as well.’

Ross said after the game she felt the reason for her team’s inconsistency throughout the season went beyond just youth and inexperience.

‘I keep saying somebody’s got to do something and step up and be a leader on the field instead of adding to it, and that’s been our problem all year,’ Ross said. ‘Everyone goes quiet when we make a mistake around here and goes their own way.’

The .500 weekend meant a missed opportunity for Syracuse on the eve of the Big East tournament. Although Syracuse has clinched a spot in the tournament with losses by 10th-place Providence during the weekend, the importance of securing a good seed going into the weekend was not lost on the Syracuse players.

‘That’s all we talked in practice was the Big East and we had to come out here and win, and to lose that second game is disappointing,’ Syracuse’s lone senior Erin Gray said.

Overall, SU was left with a familiar feeling of regret. After the game, Jamieson found himself trying to find a reason for Syracuse’s inconsistency – something he and Ross have been forced to do all season.

‘On paper, we’re better than these teams,’ Jamieson said. ‘It could be that we’re inexperienced or it could be that we haven’t been outside enough, but it’s just something we have to fix over the last two weeks of this season or however long our season is.’

Published on April 28, 2007 at 12:00 pm