With one little tweak to the lineup, the top of the order for the Syracuse softball team began to produce like a machine.

 

In the third inning of SU’s game against South Alabama Saturday, leadoff hitter Veronica Grant stole second base. Stephanie Watts then got a base hit to bring Grant home. And Lisaira Daniels completed the rally, bringing Watts home with a single. That third inning rally would be repeated again in the fifth inning.

‘That was really cool because we kind of gelled together,’ Daniels said.
And it’s all thanks to one little switch.

Last weekend, in the Purple and Gold Challenge at LSU, Orange head coach Leigh Ross and assistant coach Wallace King decided to change the Syracuse batting order, switching Watts and Daniels in the lineup. The results certainly indicate that the coaches made the right move. Watts hit .429 with a double, home run and three RBIs, and Daniels hit .500 with a double, four RBIs and two stolen bases. Both players were named to the all-tournament team.

‘Something about that combination,’ Ross said. ‘(Grant) would get on, we’d steal her over, Watts would hit a double, (Daniels) would hit a double. That happened a couple of times with South Alabama, and you could just see it clicking a little better.’

Ross hopes that their strong play continues this weekend as Syracuse travels to Boca Raton, Fla., for the round-robin FAU Parents Weekend Tournament. It’s the beginning of a week-long Spring Break trip for the Orange. Syracuse will play four games in two days this weekend, then spend the week in Florida preparing for the USF ‘The Game’ Tournament in Tampa, Fla., next weekend. SU will also play Iowa in a neutral-site game in Boca Raton before the second tournament to stay sharp.

One of the keys for Syracuse to have success on this long trip will be the continued output at the top of the lineup. The Orange averaged 3.4 runs per game in its first two tournaments this year and 3.8 runs per game in the LSU tournament. Much of the increase was due to the top three hitters in the order, who scored 12 of Syracuse’s 19 runs in Baton Rouge, La.

‘(I) have a lot of responsibility because if (Grant) gets on and Steph gets on, I need to move them over or score them,’ Daniels said. ‘It’s a lot of pressure for me to score them, but then again, it’s fun. I’m batting behind people that are amazing athletes.’

Despite the success at the top of the lineup, the Orange once again failed to win a big game against a ranked opponent. Syracuse went 3-2 over the weekend but lost both chances it had against No. 14 LSU, 9-1 and 9-2.

The team hopes that this next week will help fine-tune the mistakes it made in those games. Staying in Florida means that the Orange will practice outdoors all week, rather than inside of the Carrier Dome.

‘We’re all looking forward to it, obviously,’ Watts said. ‘We get to be outside for a really long time, and that’s going to be great for us going into (Big East) season.’

Syracuse does not play any ranked teams this weekend at Florida Atlantic, but that does not mean the games will be easy. Although the Orange came within one run of beating No. 15 Texas and two of beating No. 19 Tennessee, SU will still have to prove that it is better than these small-school teams looking to pull an upset.

‘I feel like we should do pretty well in this tournament,’ Ross said. ‘To play against Top 10 teams and be one run away from winning, I think we’ve kind of proved to ourselves what we can do. I think it’s going to be a challenge for us to play at that level against a team that’s not Top 10.’

The rhythm of the top of the order is a start. Grant, Watts and Daniels were all hot at the plate last weekend, and the team believes that it’s only a matter of time before the rest of the lineup catches fire.

Coach Ross sees the team improving from week to week, both at the plate and in the field. After struggling to score runs and make plays in the early going, the Orange is beginning to gain confidence in its ability to play with top teams. The lineup change worked, so Watts and Daniels will stay in their new spots in the order.

‘Coach King and I feel like we have so much depth on this team that we can make a lot of moves on this lineup,’ Ross said. ‘It was just one of those things where we were like, ‘Hey, let’s try this and see what happens,’ and I think it worked for us.’

mcooperj@syr.edu
 

Published on March 10, 2010 at 12:00 pm

Contact Mark: mcooperj@syr.edu | @mark_cooperjr