After a pristine week of weather on the Hill, the Syracuse softball team couldn’t believe its luck. Heavy rainfall began to descend upon the field at Skytop for the first time in days, just as players and coaches pulled into the parking lot Wednesday afternoon.

For the Orange, it seemed to be a continuation of the prior weekend’s misfortunes, as the team’s three-day tournament in Rock Hill, S.C., had been a washout, a disappointment for a team yearning to play. All four scheduled games were rained out.

As the players arrived to practice Wednesday, despite the heavy raindrops and overcast skies, a clear message resonated throughout the squad: Not practicing on the diamond wasn’t an option.

‘We are going on the field, and if not it’ll blow over,’ senior captain Amy Kelley said prior to practice, as the wind howled past the squad’s dugout. ‘We will just play in the rain. It’s fine. I mean, we have played in the snow.’

The anticipation, excitement and frustration the team feels as it is itching to get out onto the dirt stems from an extended break from action, following a disappointing showing two weeks ago in Southern California.

The long gap between play is a result of the cancellation of the team’s four games last weekend. The team was looking to send a message to its opponents, coaches, but most of all, itself.

‘Once the anticipation starts, it just keeps building and building,’ senior captain Jamie Kelling said. ‘We really wanted to prove to ourselves that we could jump back in it, and we were ready to dominate those teams, but when we saw that rain pouring it was disappointing. We were ready to go.’

To stay sharp despite the poor weather, Syracuse head coach Leigh Ross put together a strenuous but much needed week of practice.

‘Plays should have been made in California, and in the next two practices, we made sure that those same plays were made, every drill was set up that way,’ Ross said. ‘We had a very hard practice on Tuesday and we started to stop thinking so much, so if we can take that now and use it towards Big East play, it will really benefit us.’

The squad compiled a 1-4 record in California, losing to Cal State Fullerton, 4-2, Florida International, 5-2, and host Long Beach State, 4-1. UCLA no-hit the Orange for SU’s final defeat.

‘It was our own fault,’ Ross said. ‘It was very frustrating, but it was a wake-up call.’

Over the four losses, the squad accounted for 10 errors, 17 walks, and six hit batters.

‘That is not how you win games,’ Ross said.

Despite the rough results during the Long Beach State tournament, the team said it feels that if the ‘wake up call’ was going to happen at any time, that was a good time for it to occur.

‘The results were negative, it was an eye-opener, but that was the highest competition,’ Kelley said. ‘So for us to be working through these things now, demanding more, I think it came at a good time, because now we are like, ‘No, there are no excuses, we can do this.”

Moving forward, as the team opens up Big East conference play at Seton Hall this weekend, barring any unforeseen further disruptions brought about by Mother Nature, the team doesn’t plan on holding anything back.

The confident mentality that stems from the anticipation and frustration doesn’t merely translate to the players out on the diamond. The almost brash confidence also extends into the dugout.

Just ask Ross herself.

‘I vowed not to put it under a microscope, and I am not going to sit here and try and figure it totally out,’ Ross said. ‘My mentality is that we are going to go to Seton Hall and take it out on them. We have been waiting long enough’

aolivero@syr.edu

Published on March 18, 2009 at 12:00 pm