Hallie Gibbs guaranteed three wins over Georgetown this weekend.

When asked if she thought a sweep of the Hoyas was a possibility, Gibbs was nothing less than definitive.

‘It’s what’s going to happen,’ she said in a phone interview Thursday.

On that note of confidence, Syracuse (14-13) travels to the nation’s capital this weekend to open up conference play at Georgetown (12-16, 2-1) April 2. After a doubleheader against Siena was rained out on Tuesday, the Orange will try to carry over its momentum from its two wins against Buffalo last weekend.

One important factor will be whether the combination of Jenna Caira and Brittany Gardner can repeat their dominant performance from a week ago. In 12 innings of work against the Bulls, the duo didn’t surrender a single earned run. Caira struck out 13 batters in her complete game, and Gardner threw her second-career one-hitter.

‘I watched them pitch yesterday, and they are looking phenomenal,’ said SU sophomore Lisaira Daniels. ‘I know it’s my first year here, but I’ve never seen Brittany (Gardner) as sharp as she looked yesterday. So going into this weekend, I’m really excited.’

Based on Caira and Gardner’s success against the Hoyas last season, Daniels has good reason to be excited. The first-ever matchup between the two schools last season went 12 innings, and despite the 2-1 loss, Caira shined. She threw all 12 innings, striking out 16 and allowing just two earned runs. Gardner backed that up with an 11-strikeout, four-hit win in the second game of the doubleheader.

But when the first pitch is thrown Friday, it will have been nine days since the Orange last played, something that head coach Leigh Ross isn’t too happy about. In one sense, the rainout allowed SU to avoid a potential trap game against the three-win Saints. At the same time, it may have disrupted the team’s rhythm.

‘Having that many days off in a row, I hope we used it as more of a rest thing and a fine-tuning opportunity for us,’ Ross said. ‘We’ll see on Friday if they can handle that or not. But I think they’re kind of chomping at the bit to get back on the field and play.’

That last statement might be the one reason why the layoff won’t affect the Orange this weekend. All of the team’s games against ranked competition in preseason tournaments were played with the goal of getting to this point: the Big East regular season.

Ross thought that playing against some of the best teams in the country would make her squad more than ready to take on weaker opponents during conference play. On paper, that idea makes sense. The Big East had just one team in the Top 25 in the latest poll, with Louisville coming in at No. 25. Furthermore, the Orange has played 10 games against ranked opponents this season, while the Hoyas have played none.

‘Our main goal right now is to play at our level and not drop down anywhere,’ Gibbs said. ‘I think that we have the capabilities to beat every team in the Big East as long as we play at our level.’

But as of right now, according to Ross, the Orange isn’t getting respect among its conference foes. Opponents see a 1-9 record in those 10 games against ranked teams, and they aren’t really impressed. Being one game above .500 overall doesn’t impress them either. As a result, the team hopes to go out this weekend and make an early impression on the rest of the Big East.

‘I think that the Big East is kind of overlooking us right now, which is a good thing,’ Ross said. ‘I think we can make a big statement by going out there and doing what we should do against Georgetown. We see ourselves a certain way and we know how good we can play, but we haven’t really showed them yet.’

mjcohe02@syr.edu

 

Published on March 31, 2010 at 12:00 pm

Contact Michael: mjcohe02@syr.edu | @Michael_Cohen13