Veronica Grant is constantly reminded of the success she has had in a Syracuse uniform. As SU’s starting center fielder, she jogs into the outfield seven times a game and is met by two signs hanging from the fence.

The first reads, “Big East Champions 2010.” The second: “Big East Champions 2011.”

“Seeing those all the time means a lot,” Grant said. “When I first got here, we had that in our mindset, but the program had never won anything. They tell me we made history.”

After finishing the regular season 23-28 and 10-12 in the conference, Syracuse enters this year’s Big East tournament as the No. 6 seed, and will travel to Tampa, Fla., to meet No. 2-seed Louisville (45-10, 18-4) in the first round on Thursday.

That’s where Grant, shortstop Morgan Nandin, catcher Ashley Dimon and pitcher Stacy Kuwik will look to extend their remarkable careers. The Orange’s four senior starters were all part of the first and second Big East championships in program history, and have had a hand in transforming SU into a perennial conference contender. As they near the end of their collegiate careers, anything short of a third championship won’t be enough.

“We haven’t had the year we expected,” Dimon said. “And to run the table in the conference and go out with a bang would mean the world to all of us.”

Before 2010, Syracuse had only won one Big East tournament game. In 2009, the fourth-seeded Orange was upset by South Florida 5-4 in the first round. After the early exit, four freshmen were waiting in the wings to propel the program to new heights.

In their first seasons, Grant, Nandin, Dimon and Kuwik had varying effects. Grant started in all 58 games and set Syracuse single-season records for doubles and at-bats. Nandin also started every game and became only the eighth Syracuse player to record a hit in her first collegiate at-bat. Dimon started 11 games at catcher and Kuwik posted a 7-10 record with a 3.52 ERA.

Regardless of their individual outputs, the women were all working parts of something bigger than themselves.

Two years later, they helped bring the program its first two Big East tournament crowns.

“Winning a Big East championship is an unbelievable feeling,” Nandin said. “Especially our freshman year because we did something no one had done before, like a Cinderella story.

“It was this weird vibe that we all felt but no one talked about. It was something special that is hard to put into words, and winning again the next year was like doing it all over again.”

But fast-forward to 2013 and things aren’t as picturesque.

The Orange has, at times, limped through its conference schedule. Some games, the pitching implodes and in others, the bats don’t show up. Injuries to sophomore pitcher Lindsay Taylor at the start of Big East play, as well as many young faces in the lineup, have forced coach Leigh Ross to rely heavily on the play and leadership of her graduating class.

Having to mend wounds and mold underclassmen all season long has made the seniors’ impending departure harder to grasp. The turbulent season had provided adversity, but they have grown closer as a result.

“Thinking about leaving is depressing,” Nandin said. “We have bonded so much this year, especially when things haven’t been easy. I know I don’t want to stop playing because I’m young and want to play until I can’t, and I’m really going to miss these girls.”

In a few weeks time, Syracuse softball will be in the past of these four seniors. Dimon will begin studying for the GREs with aspirations to attend graduate school. Nandin will do a semester of student-teaching and pursue her dream of becoming a college softball coach. Kuwik will jump-start her career at an engineering company in Rochester, N.Y., and Grant will decide between a year off or more school.

Despite the different paths their futures will take them , a common, final goal unites these women one last time.

“I just want to keep winning, every game,” Kuwik said. “Let’s win the Big East tournament then go hot into regionals. Really, I just don’t want this to end.”

Published on May 8, 2013 at 7:33 pm

Contact Jesse: jcdoug01@syr.edu | @dougherty_jesse