By the time the Syracuse softball team has its first home game of the 2011 season, it will have traveled to six states and three time zones.

Like every season, head coach Leigh Ross has her team entered in multiple preseason tournaments. They are places where the Orange will take on some of its toughest opponents of the season.

And they provide plenty of learning experiences prior to the start of conference play.

‘Last year we were so high on ourselves after winning the Big East that we were like a deer in the headlights in the NCAA tournament,’ said junior outfielder Lisaira Daniels.

And that’s why this weekend’s games will be so important for a Syracuse team looking to make that jump to the next level. This weekend’s Bama Bash on the Alabama campus marks the second in a season-opening, five-tournament string. There, the Orange will play five games in three days, highlighted by a pair of games with the nation’s No. 3 team in Alabama.

For Syracuse, it is a huge jump in the level of competition after sweeping inferior small-conference opponents last weekend in the Georgia State First Pitch Classic. It breezed through Tennessee Tech, Morehead State and Georgia State, outscoring its opponents by a combined score of 33-3 in a dominant four-game tournament victory.

This week, though, no one is denying the circumstances will likely be different.

‘We were just excited to get back on the dirt last weekend, so playing against those schools was a nice first step,’ SU junior pitcher Jenna Caira said. ‘But that’s nothing compared to the Alabamas and the Louisvilles we’ll see this weekend.’

Both the Tide and the Cardinals have experienced a great deal of success in recent years and are looking strong as the 2011 season gets underway. Under coach Patrick Murphy, Alabama has made six Women’s College World Series appearances and recorded eight 50-plus win seasons since 2000. After falling in the NCAA Super Regionals in 2010, the Tide are off to a perfect 5-0 start this season and are currently ranked third in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll.

As for the Cardinals, they’ve made seven consecutive NCAA regional appearances and finished third in last season’s Big East regular-season standings. Though it may be a challenge to face a national power and a conference rival so early in the season, Ross said her players are relishing the opportunity.

Especially against a team Syracuse beat to win the Big East championship a year ago.

‘When we saw the tournament field, the first thing that came to all of our minds was how much it could help our RPI,’ Ross said. ‘That’s why we don’t mind playing Louisville, even though we’re seeing them three times later in the season.’

Helping the RPI and playing games against quality opponents is exactly what Syracuse wants to do to build off last season’s success. After the program’s first-ever trip to the NCAA tournament, the buzz around SU softball is about taking that next step. A step that would turn them into an Alabama-level elite program.

Though last year’s run through the Big East tournament and to the NCAA tournament was surprising, players have big dreams of playing in an NCAA Super Regional.

But even they will say that in order to do so, they need to know what it feels like to compete against teams that are among college softball’s best, year in and year out.

‘We really didn’t have enough experience against those types of teams (last year in the NCAA tournament),’ Daniels said. ‘That’s why this weekend is so important for our future aspirations this year.’

jdsaffre@syr.edu

 

Published on February 16, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Jarrad: jdsaffre@syr.edu