Don’t unpack those bags just yet.

As if playing on the road for more than a month and a half wasn’t enough, the Syracuse softball team returned home only to learn that it will be going back on the road.

So much for home-field advantage.

Due to unplayable field conditions at the Syracuse Softball Stadium, the Orange will open its Big East slate with doubleheaders at Seton Hall and St. John’s on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. SU struggled through a purposely difficult non-conference because the team relies on many freshmen.

‘No one was expecting to travel again this soon,’ senior shortstop/pitcher Alexis Switenko said. ‘But we haven’t played on our field yet, so it’s not like we’re losing any home-field advantage.’

Now Syracuse will not make its 2006 home debut until April 8 against Big East defending champion Notre Dame, the same team that eliminated the Orange from the 2005 Big East tournament.

SU head coach Mary Jo Firnbach admits she never expects to be able to play early home contests like these, but she wishes the Big East would schedule a bit more favorably.

‘Every year we get the conference schedule and when we get home first I tell (the Big East) every year we’re not going to get these games in.

‘I know there are a lot of things that play into scheduling. Unfortunately, the Big East’s hands are tied with some issues.’

In 2005, SU played its earliest home date in the history of the program, an April 1 doubleheader split against Connecticut to kick off the Big East schedule.

Without the advantage of a home date, SU will take an 11-13 record into conference play, a feat Firnbach is proud of after losing six starters from last year’s banner season.

One year ago, SU was 11-9 going into Big East play and finished with a school-record 28 wins.

‘I look at a lot of things, a lot of teams we played and the pitchers we faced,’ Firnbach said. ‘I think we’re ready to go.’

Firnbach traditionally arranges for a challenging non-conference schedule to prepare her teams for Big East play. With one of the strongest non-conference schedules among the members of the Big East, the Orange played against five ranked teams, but was unable to win any.

‘We set ourselves up in the early season to play ranked opponents,’ Firnbach said. ‘We played (No. 9) Texas A&M hard, we played (No. 4) UCLA hard and we played (No. 24) Mississippi State hard. We have a lot of freshmen so it was good to see competitive play, so we could be at that level.’

To understand some of the early struggles of the Orange, look no further than the inexperience of the large freshman class.

The freshman class comprises 60 percent of the roster and has accounted for just a little more than 50 percent of Syracuse’s total runs scored. After 24 games, the freshmen are hitting .241 with eight home runs and 41 runs driven in.

‘I think the non-conference schedule was good because we have a lot of freshmen and we could see that level of play,’ freshman outfielder Tonye McCorkle said. ‘We all came from competitive travel teams, and we’re all young here.’

McCorkle has held her own against the tough competition.

Heading into conference play, McCorkle is batting a team-high .348. Her .400 on-base percentage is the best on the Orange, an important statistic considering McCorkle generally hits lead-off for SU.

After struggling in California, Firnbach moved McCorkle to the bottom of the order. She responded with a 4-for-6 effort with four RBIs and her first collegiate home run in the last two games of the trip, victories against Big 10 opponents Minnesota and Iowa.

‘When we lost the games we should have won, we knew we had to finish up the trip well,’ McCorkle said. ‘It just gives us another thing to take with us into conference play.’

McCorkle’s performance is just one example of the kind of contribution the Orange will need to consistently find from its freshmen for the remainder of the season.

Switenko is banking on the young ones coming up big in the Big East.

Said Switenko: ‘I have all of the confidence in the world in our freshmen picking up the slack.’

Published on March 22, 2006 at 12:00 pm