The dark clouds that had hovered over Skytop Softball Stadium subsided at the top of the sixth inning. With a 1-0 lead, Syracuse had two innings to close out Pittsburgh as the weather improved. But with two outs and runners on first and second, Pittsburgh catcher Walker Barbee launched the neon ball high into the newly blue sky in deep center.

As SU center fielder Alicia Hansen tracked the pop fly toward the fence, Hansen battled the sun by shielding it with her glove. Instead, Hansen’s glove screened her view of the ball, which dropped out of the sky and hit the middle of the fence. Hansen would have preferred the the overcast weather.

“It just got caught in the sun for me,” Hansen said. “That definitely should have been an out.”

Hansen’s mistake allowed two Panthers to score and turned Syracuse’s lead into a 2-1 deficit. Syracuse (19-24, 8-9 Atlantic Coast) was in position to beat the Panthers despite mustering only one hit, but Pitt’s (8-38, 3-14) two-run sixth inning proved to be insurmountable for Syracuse’s quiet bats. A day after beating the Panthers by 10 runs, Syracuse wasted strong pitching performances and lost, 2-1.

“Our pitchers gave us every opportunity to win that ballgame,” SU head coach Shannon Doepking said. “We should’ve caught that ball out in center field. Unfortunately, we lost it in the sun, and we let it drop. At the end of the day, that was a difference-maker.”

Syracuse built its 1-0 lead in the first inning when leadoff batter Gabby Teran walked, then Hansen singled to right center for the team’s only hit of the contest. Teran scored from first as Pitt’s shortstop bobbled the relay throw into second. Starter Miranda Hearn stranded runners in scoring position in the next two innings and helped Syracuse maintain its 1-0 lead for five frames.

Two batters before Barbee’s double, Doepking pulled Hearn in favor of ace Alexa Romero. In 5.1 innings of work, Hearn had allowed just three hits — none of which reached the outfield on the fly — by tapping into her arsenal of off-speed pitches. Hearn struck out four Pitt batters and recorded two 1-2-3 innings. Still, the pitching change was a no-brainer to Doepking and a smart move to Hearn.

“I had all the faith in the world in Lex, honestly,” Hearn said. “I wasn’t angry. I thought it was a good move.”

Romero inherited a runner on first base, and forced an easy out on a dribbler back to her. Then, she lost her grip on a rise-ball and hit Connor McGaffic on her front shoulder, putting runners on first and second. Then, Barbee stepped into the batter’s box and skied a 1-2 pitch over Hansen’s head for the two-run double into the sun.

Syracuse went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the sixth. In the Orange’s last chance, third baseman Hannah Dossett grounded into a double play to end the game. Romero’s three strikeouts in 1.2 innings didn’t matter, as Syracuse failed to generate any scoring chances.

“I mean, we have Alexa Romero,” Doepking said. “If I’m going to lose, I’m going to lose with Lex on the mound. I’m not going to lose with Lex sitting on the bench.”

Published on April 20, 2019 at 4:56 pm

Contact Danny: dremerma@syr.edu | @DannyEmerman