The Syracuse softball team had been dreading the day when its band of power hitters would finally struggle. In SU’s home-opening doubleheader against Notre Dame on Sunday, a pair of convincing losses revealed an emerging offensive flaw that was bound to surface once the pitching staff had an off game: over-reliance on the long ball.

It’s the simple reality of seven-inning softball — it can be more difficult to come from behind relying on home runs instead of putting together a string of hits. And Sunday, the over-reliance did SU in.

‘We’re not a bunting or small-ball team,’ SU head coach Leigh Ross said. ‘That’s not our forte. We’re known as a power team. (SU hitting coach) Wally (King) and I both have a ‘big splash’ philosophy, and I don’t think that’s going to change.’

Though the Orange’s powerful offensive makeup isn’t subject to change, SU’s offense has now experienced the difficulty of depending on the long ball — especially after falling behind in the early innings. In the 9-2 and 7-4 losses against Notre Dame, four of SU’s six runs came via a trio of home runs from Lacey Kohl, Stephanie Watts and Kelly Saco. The Orange also went 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position and left 13 runners on base.

The inability to string hits together and ignite a rally made it near impossible to get within striking distance against a Fighting Irish team that tagged Syracuse’s top starter, Jenna Caira, for a combined 12 runs before she exited in the fifth and fourth innings of the two games. But Ross is putting very little stock in what she views as a fluky off day.

‘When you fall behind by that much, you want to manufacture a lot of runs quickly with big hits,’ Ross said. ‘Sometimes it happens. Sometimes it doesn’t. Power teams are streaky.’

‘Streaky’ is perhaps how SU would prefer to characterize what is now a five-game losing streak in the heart of its Big East schedule, not to mention against two of the Orange’s premier competitors — South Florida and Notre Dame, which currently stand first and second in the Big East standings — for the conference title.

‘We beat ourselves last weekend because we weren’t ready for a small-ball team like South Florida,’ Caira said. ‘This weekend we just got beat.’

Last weekend’s losses against South Florida came down to sloppy play in the field (nine unearned runs and eight errors in three games) and a lack of experience against a small-ball offense like the Bulls. But SU’s offense still fell victim to many of the same problems that haunted the team against Notre Dame. Of the four runs the Orange scored last weekend, three were via the long ball. SU also went 0-for-18 with runners in scoring position and left 18 runners on base, including five in the final game against USF.

Like SU, Notre Dame is not a small-ball team. The Irish rank second in the Big East in slugging percentage with a .466 clip. But the Notre Dame offense still utilized a number of small-ball tactics to set up its consistent hitters with multiple scoring opportunities.

Despite the alarming statistics, the SU players and coaches continue to insist they don’t need to play small ball — even when the Orange falls behind.

‘We don’t have many slappers or speed kids,’ junior outfielder Lisaira Daniels said. ‘Our mindset is to gap shot or hit it out of the park.’

From a coach’s perspective, Ross explains SU’s offensive mindset as an unrelenting faith in the capabilities of her hitters. And she will continue to rely on them.

‘If you steal and get caught or lay down a sac bunt, you’re wasting an out,’ Ross said. ‘Whether it’s early or late or we’re trailing or whatever the situation is, we don’t like to take the bat out of our players’ hands.’

jdsaffre@syr.edu

 

Published on April 10, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Jarrad: jdsaffre@syr.edu