As Jenna Caira exited her final game as a Syracuse player, SU fans rose to their feet to applaud her superb pitching career. But as the senior ace crossed the first-base line and joined her teammates in the dugout, the rest of the crowd in Tempe, Ariz. joined them in a standing ovation.

On Sunday night, SU (43-16) was eliminated from the NCAA tournament in a 4-0 loss to Arizona State (48-8). The Sun Devils will advance to take on Louisiana-Lafayette (54-4) in the Super Regional round.

Butfor one brief moment in the fourth inning, Caira and her SU teammates had converted the pro-Arizona State fans.

‘I think we showed them what our team is about,’ said coach Leigh Ross. ‘We showed we could beat them, and everyone at that stadium respected that.’

Even though ASU beat Syracuse when it mattered most, Ross said that respect was well deserved. Earlier on Saturday, SU prolonged its tournament hopes by beating the heavily favored Sun Devils in a 1-0 pitcher’s duel.

Arizona State hadn’t been shut out at home since May 15, 2009. Caira pitched another stellar game to snap that streak.

In the first game of Saturday’s two-part, winner-take-all ASU series, she went seven innings and surrendered only four hits. 

More importantly to Ross, she shut out the NCAA’s second-ranked scoring team. And behind a first inning solo home run from Stephanie Watts, Caira pitched SU to a victory over its highest ranked opponent in school history.

Ross said Caira’s performance rivaled her two no-hitters this season. But SU couldn’t recapture its momentum in the next game.

Nearly two hours after arguably the program’s biggest victory, the Orange played ASU again for the Tempe region title. This time, it fell behind early to the Sun Devils and stayed behind all game. SU played sloppy in the field and looked like a team that had exhausted its emotion during its previous 1-0 victory.

In the bottom of the first inning, Arizona State senior shortstop Katelyn Boyd singled, but reached second when the ball bounced over center fielder Veronica Grant’s head.

Later in that inning, a double rolled under the glove of left fielder Shirley Daniels, and ASU opened up an early three-run lead. And in the fourth inning, Grant let another hitter reach scoring position on a throwing error.

Caira was pulled after that error. The game wasn’t over, but it was clear that SU couldn’t match Arizona State for a second Saturday win.

But like the crowd that greeted Caira, Ross applauds her players. After a huge win over Arizona State, Ross said SU should be considered a national elite – and that’s a huge step from where the program was when she began.

‘There’s absolutely no reason why this program shouldn’t be regarded as a national power going forward,’ Ross said. ‘I’m proud of these players for this season’s results, but also for the way they played the game.’

nctoney@syr.edu

Published on May 20, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Nick: nctoney@syr.edu | @nicktoneytweets