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Mallorie Black watched as the fourth straight ball from Alexa Romero missed the strike zone. Syracuse was already down 1-0, and Romero’s walk — her ninth of the afternoon, a career-high — loaded the bases. She had already walked Jin Sileo and Kennedy Cowden on full counts, and head coach Shannon Doepking signaled for the infield to shade in, hoping to prevent a second run from scoring. 

But Breanna Roper then roped a single past a diving Calista Almer at first and into right field. Both runners, who had advanced to second and third on a wild pitch during Roper’s at-bat, scored. Romero stood on the mound and tried to shake it off. She found herself ahead of Emma Kauf — a .356 hitter. Then Kauf lined a triple down the left field line, scoring both baserunners and extending the Georgia Tech lead to 5-0.

In Syracuse’s (21-23, 12-20 Atlantic Coast) first round ACC Tournament matchup against No. 9-seed Georgia Tech (20-25, 11-19), Romero walked nine batters and only struck out four in SU’s season-ending 6-0 loss. 

Romero opted to return to central New York for her graduate season instead of accepting a coaching position with Loyola Marymount. She had already moved to third all-time at Syracuse with 43 career wins and had solidified herself as one of the best in the pitcher’s circle behind Jenna Caira. Despite the fact that she hadn’t been on an SU team above .500 since her sophomore year, Romero said she always knew she’d come back.

“I’ve wanted this dream and I’m finishing it the way I want to finish it,” Romero told The Daily Orange last April.

Her final season with Syracuse featured ups and downs. It featured games such as her one-hit complete game win over Virginia on April 23 and a 12-strikeout, eight-inning win over Boston College on April 9. But it also featured a 7-3 loss to Florida State on April 17 in which the Seminoles tagged Romero for five home runs.

On Wednesday in Louisville, Kentucky, Romero’s command led her astray. The hard-throwing lefty began the game giving up a solo home run to Roper just three pitches into the game. She then proceeded to walk two of the next three batters, forcing assistant coach Michael Steuerwald to pause play and talk with Romero and catcher Geana Torres.

Doepking has gone back-and-forth between allowing Torres to call the game and having pitches signaled into the midseason transfer from the dugout. On Wednesday, Makena Fidler and Steuerwald worked to find the best approach to a Yellow Jackets lineup that ranks fifth in the ACC in batting average. While Romero got out of the first inning without any further damage, it wasn’t before she walked the bases loaded.

But continuously walking batters inevitably led to an increased pitch count. Romero had only amassed 120 pitches in an outing three times this season prior to Wednesday’s start. She went 2-1 in those games, but her two wins were complete-game shutouts. Against GT, her 135 pitches — the most since the 2019 season-finale loss to NC State — spanned across 5 1/3 innings.

Romero ended the season with 62 total walks over 124 2/3 innings. It’s the second-most free bases she’s allowed, behind a 2019 season that featured 89 walks. But in her final year with the Orange, Romero developed a changeup, something Steuerwald told her was a necessity prior to the 2020 season. When the pandemic cut that season short after just 14 appearances and 63 innings pitched, Romero returned to Aurora, Colorado, to work on her first-ever offspeed pitch, one that would go on to compliment her rise ball and upper-60s fastball. Location and trust became the most difficult part of mastering her new pitch.

“You’d rather (the pitch) be at knee level to lower, instead of belt high where it’s easy for hitters to time it up and … probably hit it out of the park,” Romero said. 

The leadoff home run was belt high, and when Romero lost batters and got into pitching jams, such as during the fifth inning, it was clear her sharp command had dulled. To lead off, Roper worked a full count, but Romero’s attempt to come back and hit the outside corner failed, sending the utility player to first. A double play saved Romero, but she countered the stellar defensive effort by walking Cameron Stanford on four straight balls and allowing a single up the middle.

“All the walks (are) something that we gotta get better at if we want a chance at doing something this program hasn’t done,” Doepking said following Sunday’s 19-2 loss to Clemson.

The third-year coach’s words were a grim prediction for Wednesday’s game. Romero lost her final game, walking nine and allowing six runs on five hits. Freshman Lindsey Hendrix, who Doepking brought in to relieve Romero, walked another three in her 1 2/3 innings of work. SU’s duo in the circle walked at least one batter in five of the seven innings, and after pinch hitter Alex Acevedo watched strike three whizz past her, the realization of another tournament loss set in.

Acevedo quietly walked back to the bench. Romero calmly sat in the dugout, looking at a collegiate field as a player for one last time after walking the most batters she ever had in her career.

Published on May 12, 2021 at 4:57 pm

Contact Anthony: aalandt@syr.edu | @anthonyalandt