After coughing up late leads in two losses during the weekend, including an 11-run, sixth-inning lead against St. John’s on Saturday, the Syracuse softball team found itself at the other end of the spectrum early Wednesday.

Despite jumping out to a 1-0 lead, the Orange handed Niagara (12-16) an early advantage in game one a doubleheader with sloppy infield play. Two costly errors by Syracuse led to a pair of unearned runs and 4-1 Niagara lead.

This time, it would be Syracuse that would need a comeback.

‘You get to a point where you’re just like, ‘OK, this isn’t going to happen anymore, we just gotta stick to the basics here,” Syracuse head coach Leigh Ross said of her team’s sloppy play. ‘I think they were a little mad at themselves for letting the lead go and came in to hit more determined.’

Syracuse displayed its resiliency in the form of an offensive explosion in the sixth inning to beat the Purple Eagles, 6-4, in game one. SU completed the sweep, winning the second game, 8-7.

Syracuse belted six home runs on the day, including a three-run homer by outfielder Chanel Roehner to give the Orange a 5-4 lead in the sixth inning of the first game.Syracuse (19-28, 7-9 Big East) will attempt to carry its offensive momentum into the weekend when they play two key doubleheaders at home against Big East foes Rutgers (19-27, 6-8) and Villanova (22-22-1, 3-9).

The six home runs were a welcome change for a Syracuse squad that has struggled at times to produce hits in pressure situations this season.

‘I think we’ve lacked (timely hitting) in a lot of games,’ Ross said. ‘We can seem to be able to get runners in scoring position pretty easily. We can bunt them over and execute and do that, but sometimes we can’t come up with the big, clutch hit.’

Luckily for the Orange, it didn’t have to worry about manufacturing runs on Wednesday. At one point the Orange scored 10-straight runs off home runs during the two contests, including two longballs from Rachel Tilford in game two.

Ross thinks her team’s recent offensive success is due to a smarter approach from her hitters.

‘We tell them in the dugout, before their at-bats, during their at-bats, after their at-bats, to keep looking the opposite way,’ Ross said. ‘I think now they are staying in long enough to hit those good pitchers. So I think that’s starting to click for some kids.’

That successful approach was apparent in game two. The Orange bats started hot, scoring three quick runs in the first inning on home runs from first baseman Heather Kim and Tilford. Syracuse plated three more in the third frame on homers from Tilford and third baseman Erin Gray.The output was enough to support sophomore hurler Keri Casas, who earned her first win of the season pitching six innings in relief of the starter Roehner.

‘Game two, we came out with a little fire,’ Ross said. ‘We won game one, but I didn’t feel like it was our best performance. It’s tough, it’s a rainy day and it’s cold and it’s tough to keep your spirits up.’

Ross knows her team will need to carry the momentum from its effort Wednesday into its two critical Big East doubleheaders this weekend. Syracuse currently is 7-9 in Big East play, good enough for a seventh place in the Big East, ahead of Saturday’s opponent Rutgers by percentage points. Only the top eight teams qualify for the Big East Tournament.

A strong weekend could be enough to secure a berth for the Orange. For her team to be successful, Ross said her offense will need to be the team’s driving force – just as it was on Wednesday.

‘The one thing I think for sure we’ll carry in is that momentum offensively,’ Ross said. ‘We talked about it all year; we need to keep scoring runs. We’re a young team. We make mistakes in the field mentally and our pitching is young and inexperienced, so the big thing we’ll carry in is keep hitting the ball and keep scoring runs.’

Published on April 26, 2007 at 12:00 pm