Syracuse softball won back-to-back Big East championships in 2010 and 2011, defeating Louisville each time. Looking for a three-peat in 2012, they went into the tournament as the No. 3 seed, but fell to sixth-seeded St. John’s 2-1 in the first round.

“I hate thinking about it,” junior first basemen Jasmine Watkins said. “We learned from it because we don’t ever want that feeling again, but it’s such a hard topic to talk about because we worked so hard and just lost focus for that one game.”

Watkins, who is one of the team’s three captains this season, recalls the game with a stern look on her face. The team still qualified for the NCAA Tournament and made its deepest run in program history, but the loss to the Red Storm still stings.

This weekend, Syracuse opens its season in Charleston, S.C., at the Cougar Classic. The Orange will play games against East Tennessee State, Towson, College of Charleston, Akron and James Madison, which will allow SU to get its feet wet against good competition. This season is the team’s last in the Big East, and it wants to finish business in the conference this time around.

“There are a lot of naysayers that are saying that we lost a big class and that we won’t be able to make up for that,” senior catcher Ashley Dimon said. “We just need to play for us and take care of business, and winning the Big East is a big goal of ours.”

When the first pitch is thrown Friday, Leigh Ross’ eighth season as the team’s head coach will be underway. Syracuse has shown vast improvement in Ross’ tenure, and if they continue to follow that trend, 2013 should be no different.

“Coach Ross just pushes us all the time,” Dimon said. “When you think you’ve reached that max or that plateau, she says, ‘No, you can still be better.’ It is a constant everyday process of hitting the next level.”

While Ross’ day-by-day philosophy makes it hard for the team to look too far ahead, they do know that a move to the Atlantic Coast Conference is in the near future.

Like Dimon and Watkins, senior captain Veronica Grant has high hopes for the team this year. But looking past this season and her own collegiate career, she is happy for the program to move to the ACC in 2014.

Grant will never play in an ACC game, but is excited for the opportunities her teammates will get in the coming years.

“Not every school has a softball team in the Big East, so I think it’s pretty cool that the ACC will have more,” Grant said. “I enjoyed playing in the Big East, but playing in the ACC will be good experience for the upcoming players. But we still have work to do.”

The work Grant speaks of starts with a strong showing at the Cougar Classic, and stems to bigger things like a Big East championship and a trip back to the NCAA Regionals.

Watkins has been shaking her head since the loss to St. John’s less than a year ago. The favored Orange let the Red Storm sneak up on them, something she doesn’t want to let happen this year. Watkins and the Orange plan on leaving the Big East on top.

“We’re really focusing on keeping up the intensity no matter who our opponent is this year,” Watkins said. “We plan to win the Big East, and get back to where we were last season.”

Published on February 14, 2013 at 1:47 am

Contact Jesse: jcdoug01@syr.edu | @dougherty_jesse