While Syracuse got off to the best start in program history this season, there was still a glaring hole in the Orange’s resume. To be the best, a team has to beat the best, and SU has fallen short in that department.

The lack of impressive victories is an obvious blemish. But SU’s ace pitcher Jenna Caira insists the disparity is strictly a coincidence.

‘We’re not going to go into a game and say, ‘This team’s a lower seed, so they’re worse than this other team,” Caira said. ‘The good teams have that mental toughness to bring the same intensity regardless.’

With 14 games remaining on the regular-season slate, SU has the second best overall record in the Big East at 29-10. But the Orange is just 8-5 in conference play, putting it fifth in the Big East standings. All five of the losses came against South Florida and Notre Dame, the second- and third-place teams, respectively. The eight wins came against Rutgers, Providence and Villanova — the sixth-, 11th- and 12th-place teams in the 13-team Big East.

SU did manage to turn a season-high five-game losing streak against USF and Notre Dame into a five-game winning streak against Providence and Villanova. Outside of those five losses, the Orange has beaten up on conference opponents by an average of more than seven runs per game.

Caira attributes the five-game losing streak as an expected slip-up amid a rugged three-month gantlet.

‘We had been playing well since February, so we were due for an off week,’ Caira said. ‘The next week in practice, we worked on small details. We can’t just go out there and hit home runs. We have to put the ball in play. I have to hit my spots, and our defense can’t make errors.’

Caira’s theory is backed by SU’s 10-4 record against winning teams prior to conference play. The stretch included wins over a pair of Western Athletic Conference title contenders in Hawaii (30-13, 8-4) and Fresno State (26-11, 10-2), as well as a fellow Big East title contender in rival Louisville (32-13, 10-4) in a game that didn’t count toward either team’s conference record.

SU’s struggles against conference title contenders won’t be a cause for concern in the near future. The Orange doesn’t play a team ahead of it in the standings until a season-closing, three-game set against the Cardinals that will count toward both teams’ conference records.

Prior to that series, Syracuse takes on another pair of conference bottom-feeders in 10th-place Georgetown and Seton Hall, which sits in last place. But the Orange will also take on a trio of small-conference winning teams in Massachusetts, Binghamton and Niagara.

Even though her team has been nearly flawless against lesser opponents, SU head coach Leigh Ross stressed the importance of taking care of business before the big Louisville showdown.

‘The losses against South Florida and Notre Dame just put a little pressure on us to win all those games before Louisville,’ Ross said. ‘We needed a late run last year just to get to where we got. We’re in a much better position this time.’

The Orange is currently deadlocked in a cluster at the top of the Big East standings. The top five teams in the conference are separated by a grand total of three games. Last season, fifth-seeded SU snuck up on everybody by becoming the lowest seed in Big East tournament history to emerge as the champion.

This season, the Orange has spent the entire year near the top of the conference standings, building off the momentum it created in last year’s postseason. SU catcher Lacey Kohl understands the Orange won’t be sneaking up on anybody.

‘Teams know we’re not a fluke because of what we accomplished last year,’ Kohl said. ‘Those losses don’t worry us, but we’re definitely not sneaking up on anybody this year either.’

jdsaffre@syr.edu

 

Published on April 19, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Jarrad: jdsaffre@syr.edu