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Madison Knight only allowed two runs, but she hadn’t been dominant. With five batters walked and only two strikeouts, Knight had battled all day on the hill, but she needed one more out to get out of a sixth-inning jam.

With runners on first and second base and two outs, Jane Kronenberg stepped up to the plate. On Knight’s 0-1 delivery and 103rd pitch of the game, Kronenberg barreled a line drive up the middle.

On a batted ball that seemed like it would be a hit, Trinity Nichols, the SU second baseman, extended her body outward and made a back-handed diving catch to end the inning.

Backed by Knight’s run prevention and its fourth inning offensive explosion, Syracuse (10-15-1, 1-7-1 Atlantic Coast) won the first game of its doubleheader against Notre Dame (18-8-1, 4-4-1 ACC) 5-3 for its first conference win of the season. In the back end of the doubleheader, Syracuse continued its pitching success, but its offense disappeared, resulting in a 0-0 tie as a result of weather in extra innings.

After a scoreless two innings to open the day between SU and Notre Dame, Tessa Galipeau stepped up to the plate. With two outs in the top of the third inning and a 2-1 count, Galipeau unloaded on a low and inside pitch, sending it over the fence in right field for her first home run of the season, giving Syracuse an early 1-0 lead.

Following Knight retiring her ninth consecutive batter to end the third inning, Syracuse extended its lead in the fourth inning.

Madelyn Lopez and Kelly Breen collected back-to-back singles to lead off the inning, which brought Angel Jasso to the plate with no outs.

On the first pitch of her at bat, Jasso laced a double into right-center field for an RBI and advanced Gabby Lantier, who pinch-ran for Breen, to third base. Two pitches later, Lauren Vaughn smoked a line drive down the third base line, scoring Lantier and Jasso to extend Syracuse’s lead to four.

Notre Dame retired Knight and Laila Alves consecutively, but with two outs, Nichols pulled a single just fair and Vaughn scored Syracuse’s fifth run of the day.

Despite cruising through the first three innings, Knight ran into a hiccup in the fourth inning. Knight walked the leadoff batter of the inning, Leea Hanks, on four pitches, but bore down against the ensuing batter, Karina Gaskins, forcing her to fly out.

However, after cleanup hitter Lexi Orozco worked a 3-1 count, she sent a moonshot over the center field wall to cut the Orange’s lead to 5-2. Looking to further cut into SU’s lead, the Fighting Irish worked another walk, but a pop out and a failed steal attempt ended their threat.

Notre Dame had the tying run at the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning after Hanks hit an RBI single with two outs. With Knight still on the hill, she delivered her 124th pitch of the game and initiated a ground ball to secure her second career complete game and Syracuse’s first ACC win of the season.

Following Knight’s complete game, Lindsey Hendrix was on the hill for SU in the second game. As Knight did the game before, Hendrix kept Notre Dame off the scoreboard.

Through the first four innings, Hendrix only allowed one baserunner, but the Fighting Irish started a quick rally in the fifth. A leadoff bunt single by Joely Mitchell and a one out single by Kronenberg gave Notre Dame runners on first and second base with one out.

But as she had done all game, Hendrix retired Brooke Marquez and Mickey Winchell consecutively to escape the jam.

While Hendrix did all she could to keep Syracuse in the game, its offense didn’t show up. With only five hits, all singles, Syracuse only created one true scoring threat in the fifth inning. However, Olivia Pess popped out with two down to end the inning.

In the sixth, Hendrix worked her way in and out of another jam. A one out bunt single from Hanks followed by a single from Gaskins gave the Fighting Irish runners on the corners with one out. Just like the fifth inning, though, Notre Dame remained run-less after Orozco and Mitchell both flew out.

After an hour-long rain delay in the seventh inning, the Orange and Fighting Irish were held scoreless, sending the game to extra innings. Then, it was again sent to a rain delay and never returned.

Published on March 26, 2023 at 8:08 pm

Contact Justin: justingirshon@gmail.com | @JustinGirshon