In the bottom of the third inning, Lisaira Daniels stood on third base. She turned to her head coach, Leigh Ross, who was standing nearby, and announced that they were going to win.

She was right.

Daniels’ triple in the bottom of the sixth propelled the Orange (17-15, 3-2 Big East) to a come-from-behind win Wednesday to defeat in-state rival St. John’s, 3-2, in the opening game of its doubleheader. SU scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth to win its home opener in conference play. This was the fourth game this season in which Syracuse has trailed by two and battled back to win.

‘I can’t even imagine (the team) without (Daniels),’ SU head coach Leigh Ross said. ‘She’s feeling real confident in taking that role as being a leader.’

With two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning, Daniels belted a liner that split the outfielders and went all the way to the wall in right center. She legged out a triple, and freshman Veronica Grant scored the game-winning run.

‘I knew (Daniels) was going to get something done,’ Ross said. ‘You knew (Daniels) was going to put us ahead in that game… It’s probably best that we had her in that situation. She was kind of thinking that all the way through the game anyway.’

The Orange trailed early in this game after giving up a run in each of the first two innings. After that, sophomore pitcher Jenna Caira recovered and gave up just two hits after the second inning, allowing the team to chip away at the deficit.

SU got one back after an infield single by freshman Stacy Kuwik scored Daniels in the bottom of the third.

But the Orange was most impressive in its half of the sixth.

Daniels’ triple was set up by a textbook display of fundamental softball. Sophomore first-baseman Kelly Saco reached base on a dropped pop fly and ended up at second. A sacrifice bunt moved Saco to third, and a single by Grant sent her home.

Then, Daniels stepped to the plate.

‘I just keep doing what I do day in and day out,’ Daniels said. ‘My goal every day is to pick someone up. … I told Roni (Grant) that if she gets on, that’s my fire. That’s what I look for. I get really excited when she gets on base.’

Nonetheless, Ross couldn’t downplay the importance of Saco’s hustle play. She could have just as easily assumed that the fly ball would be caught and jogged toward first, but instead she made the Red Storm pay for its error.

‘That’s exactly what we talked about after the game,’ Ross said. ‘We may not be scoring those runs if Saco doesn’t run that out. That was great leadership.’

Wednesday’s comeback fell just one run shy of the largest deficit that the team has overcome this season. In the first game of the LSU Purple and Gold Challenge, the Orange trailed 5-2 after 4.5 innings of play but rallied to beat Campbell, 7-5.

As they’ve said all season, the players continue to be confident each and every time they take the field. Even when they’re trailing.

‘St. John’s didn’t come off as very strong to me,’ freshman Veronica Grant said. ‘We just started slow. Being down against a team that we know we have the upper hand against, I had a lot of confidence that we were going to come back.’

However, late-inning comebacks might not be something the Orange wants to get used to. This weekend the team tries to continue its three-game winning streak at home against Providence, a team that has scored more than a quarter of its runs in the sixth inning or later.

‘We need to start playing that way as soon as we step on the field, every single minute out here,’ Ross said. ‘I think they kind of needed to hear that. …This team’s kind of a quiet team but they can get sparked up, and that’s okay if it’s at the right time.’

mjcohe02@syr.edu

Published on April 7, 2010 at 12:00 pm

Contact Michael: mjcohe02@syr.edu | @Michael_Cohen13