As Veronica Grant stepped to the plate just moments before the first pitch in Syracuse’s March 24 home opener, the unmistakable sound of Soulja Boy reverberated around the SU Softball Stadium.

From the first instant that the bass kicked in, the SU dugout exploded with energy.

‘Lisaira (Daniels) asked me after ‘you didn’t hear us going crazy in there as soon as the song came on?” Grant said. ‘I love it. It gets the team going.’

That series of events will be repeated before every game of the Orange’s (23-18, 7-6 Big East) three-game series with UConn (18-22, 4-7) this weekend.

Every player on the SU roster has her own personal walk-up song played each time she steps to the plate in a home game. Just as Soulja Boy’s ‘She Thirsty’ has become synonymous with Grant, nearly everyone can be identified by their musical selection. With the goal being to pump up that specific player, song choice goes a long way towards revealing individual personality. 

‘Everyone has their batting songs; it’s like a softball thing,’ SU head coach Leigh Ross said. ‘I think it’s just fun. It lets everybody kind of know what they’re about and their character, too.’

But how does one pick the perfect song? It has to be ideal if that song is going to identify the specific player player. For Grant, Soulja Boy wasn’t something she thought of on her own. With three weeks remaining until the home opener, she still had no song.

But when the softball team played in the LSU Purple and Gold Challenge, Grant and her teammates heard ‘She Thirsty’ for the very first time as the walk-up song for one of the Tigers’ players

‘I heard that and I was like, you know what, I might have to steal it from this girl,’ she said. ‘It’s just a really catchy song and the team love’s it.’

Surprisingly, even Ross has grown fond of Soulja Boy.

‘(Veronica’s) song always starts off the games at home. Now I love that song after hearing it so much.’

For shortstop Morgan Nandin, she hadn’t heard ‘Return of the Mack’ in years. After all, it peaked at No. 2 on the U.S. Billboard 100 chart way back in the summer of 1997. But now, that song is played every other game when she approaches the plate.

‘I was on the plane sitting next to our graduate assistant Lindsey Wasek, and we were just going through our iPods,’ Nandin said. ‘That song came on and we both hadn’t heard it in forever. It’s a classic song, just perfect.’

Nandin recognizes a classic even though she was just 6 years old when the song was released. Mark Morrison’s biggest hit always draws the most smiles and laughs from spectators.

The trendy pop or rap songs have no place in the mind of sophomore second-baseman Stephanie Watts. Her selection of ‘Vices Like Vipers’ by heavy-metal band Oh, Sleeper catches most people off guard.

‘I know it’s really unconventional and everyone has hip-hop songs or more like gangster songs or whatever,’ Watts said. ‘I mean, I like those too, but a walk-up song is really what gets you pumped up.’

And opponents can’t help but take notice of the deafening volume and roar of Watts’ song.

‘I just like it because everyone’s kind of like ‘oh my god’,’ she said. ‘It turns some heads. It doesn’t play a huge part in the game…but they think about it at least.’

Going up to the plate with the right mindset is one of the most important things in the game of softball, Ross said.

Her song choice backed up those words. Ross selected ‘You’re a Superstar’ by the Canadian band Love Inc. to be played whenever she walked up to the plate.

Said Ross: ‘Absolutely love the song, a total pump-up song.’

 

mjcohe02@syr.edu

Published on April 21, 2010 at 12:00 pm

Contact Michael: mjcohe02@syr.edu | @Michael_Cohen13