Lisaira Daniels offered her new teammates a perspective they hadn’t heard before.

A transfer from Georgia, Daniels had already faced teams like Tennessee – an opponent unfamiliar to the Orange – in conference play as a freshman. It’s experience that translated to insight for the Orange.

‘I played Tennessee last year, so I told them a couple secrets about the pitchers, the people they lost and how they play,’ Daniels said. ‘Tennessee’s very aggressive, and if they smell fear, they’re going to jump on us. I want to go out there fearless and jump on them early.’

Along with new pitching coach Angela Tincher, Daniels represents a new influx of big-time program talent migrating to Syracuse. In the Orange’s fifth year under head coach Leigh Ross, the two are vital in leading a young team through a rigorous schedule in hopes to establish a stronger national reputation.

The big-game experience of the two will prove vital when Syracuse (2-3) will play in the Cathedral City Classic in Cathedral City, Calif., this weekend. In one of the premier softball tournaments in the country, the Orange will play five games from Friday to Sunday, including three against ranked teams. The Orange start play Friday against No. 21 Tennessee and play No. 14 Texas and No. 10 Stanford over the weekend. The other two games are against Oregon State and Cal-State Fullerton.

‘Sai (Lisaira) was in the World Series last year and knows that there’s really not much of a difference between our team and the teams she was facing,’ Ross said. ‘It’s a matter of believing. That’s the little extra that puts you beyond the other team. The girls just need to feed off of that belief that we’re just as good.’

As a freshman, Daniels started 53 games in the outfield for Georgia, hitting .309 and stealing 13 bases. The Bulldogs made the College Softball World Series and finished one game away from the Championship Series. When she transferred to Syracuse this year, she knew her experiences as a freshman would be vital in helping a young team without much big-game exposure.

It’s a lack of experience that showed in SU’s first set of games, going 2-3 in the Louisiana-Lafayette Mardi Gras Tournament Valentine’s Day weekend.

‘I was disappointed, but coming from UGA I guess I was expecting the same type of experience,’ said Daniels, who hit .286 with four runs scored and three stolen bases in Louisiana. ‘We have a lot of good talent even though we’re young. We’re really good. I just think we were a little intimidated at first as a team and it was really hard to bond together.’

Syracuse was not able to overcome that fear and inexperience in the first weekend against a ranked opponent, losing two games to No. 18 Louisiana-Lafayette. However, for a team starting four freshmen and a transfer, a bit of a learning curve is expected.

In addition to the experience that Daniels brings to the Orange, the team said it’s learning from Tincher, its new pitching coach. Tincher pitched for Virginia Tech from 2005-08 and won the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Award in 2008.

‘I think it’s the experience of the hitters that she’s faced and the team’s that she’s faced and kind of knowing what to expect from those teams,’ Ross said. ‘Staying composed in certain situations, she’s really helping the pitchers with that.’

Tincher works with a pitching staff that features 2009 Big East Rookie of the Year Jenna Caira, along with senior Brittany Gardner, junior Angie Sagnelli and freshman Stacy Kuwik. The talent is there, she says, but, like the rest of the team, it will just come down to self-belief.

‘With them, we talk a lot about confidence,’ Tincher said. ‘They had some really great innings (in Louisiana), and it’s just about believing and knowing that they can have really great seasons.’

Caira, trying to build off a 16-win freshman campaign, is excited about the addition of Tincher. Although she got off to a slow start in Louisiana, going 0-2, she is very optimistic about what Tincher will do as pitching coach.

‘It’s been awesome. She’s super young and she’s really easy to talk to and she can completely relate to us,’ Caira said. ‘She can really pinpoint certain pitches and the minor tweaks, and it’s been amazing.’

The experience that Daniels and Tincher bring to the table is giving the rest of the team confidence, and Orange players will need to have a strong belief in themselves if they want to make a splash in California this weekend.

‘Louisiana was our first weekend playing together, with me being so new, having so many freshmen on the team, sophomores on the field,’ Daniels said. ‘That weekend was a learning experience. This weekend we’re starting off big, and we’re going to go after it and kick some butt.’

mcooperj@syr.edu

Published on February 25, 2010 at 12:00 pm

Contact Mark: mcooperj@syr.edu | @mark_cooperjr