Trailing in the first game of its series with the Huskies, a team that sat ninth in the Big East, SU was experiencing a hangover effect after being swept by Louisville on national television.

 

‘We got back from Louisville at 1 in the morning (Thursday), and (we had to) go to class and do everything everyone else has to do,’ SU sophomore Kelly Saco said. ‘It is tough and sometimes it comes out like that.’

 

But after a single by Rachel Helman, Veronica Grant blasted a two-run homer to right center to bring the Orange within one. Unfortunately, it was too little too late to salvage game one. 

 

Syracuse (25-20, 9-7 Big East) went on to drop the opener to the Huskies 3-2, but Grant’s homer helped the offense snap out of its stupor for the rest of the series. The Orange exploded for 14 runs in the final two games of the series on the way to a pair of victories — 9-6 in game two Saturday and 5-1 Sunday. More than half of the offensive production came from the top four hitters in SU’s order, who seemed to find their stride against UConn (19-24, 5-9).

 

Prior to that seventh inning, the Orange was batting a dreary .130 collectively through the first six frames. The team went on to hit .327 in the final two games of the weekend.  

 

‘(At first) we were slow,’ Grant said. ‘We had a spark almost every inning, but we couldn’t put anything together. I felt like (my home run) was the spark that got the fire started.’

 

The home run in particular seemed to transfer from the bat of Grant to those of her teammates. The Orange knocked three out of the park in game two alone on the way to the victory. 

 

Sophomore Stephanie Watts hit a moon shot well beyond the left field fence in the bottom of the first in game two, and junior Hallie Gibbs belted a pair of long balls in the second game as well to tie for the team lead with four on the season.

 

‘They were ripping the, you know, stuff out of the ball,’ SU sophomore Lisaira Daniels said of her teammates. ‘They saw a pitch, and they loved it and they went after it. ‘

 

The quartet of Grant, Daniels, Watts and Gibbs, who bat first through fourth, respectively, accounted for 70 percent of the team’s hits in game two against the Huskies. They also knocked in all eight of the Orange’s runs. Only two other Syracuse players had a hit in that game. 

 

That same group went just 6-for-23 at the plate against Louisville with only one RBI. The inconsistency is something that frustrates SU head coach Leigh Ross.

 

‘If I had that answer (of why they played so well), I would do that every single game,’ she said. 

 

But Gibbs was locked in all weekend. On Sunday, she blasted a ball just barely foul down the left field line. It drew a collective gasp from everyone in the stadium as it cleared the fence by about 100 feet. She responded two pitches later by ripping a double to the wall in center field.

 

Gibbs had four hits and drove in four runs in the final two games of the series.

 

‘I think Hallie is in a really good place right now,’ Ross said. ‘She’s got some confidence in herself and in her bat. Hallie can miss-hit balls and still hit them out because she is that strong.’

 

Getting the offense to stick around is Ross’ main priority. Sophomore ace Jenna Caira remains a force on the mound (15 innings pitched, 16 strikeouts, four runs allowed this weekend), but consistent support from her hitters has been lacking. The Orange needs to put those two things together if it wants to sweep teams instead of taking just two out of three games in a series.

 

‘I think what I’ve kind of decided to do is that I need to be in their heads a little bit more then,’ Ross said. ‘I need to calm them down a little bit more. … It’s in our hands. There is no other answer but to go out there and play hard.’