Going into Wednesday’s road doubleheader with Canisius, the Syracuse Orange softball team had lost five of seven and appeared to be in a bit of a spiral.
Luckily, that tailspin ended, at least temporarily, with two big wins to move the team to 21-15 overall (while still being 3-9 in ACC play). Syracuse is now a respectable 8-7 on the road and 11-4 in neutral-site games.
Game one against the Golden Griffins went flawlessly, as the team won 9-0 on just five hits. Canisius had five errors on the game, while managing just three hits of their own. Bryce Holmgren led the Orange with two RBIs in the game, and Alicia Hansen, Faith Cain and Toni Martin each chipped in one as well. Jessica Heese and Alyssa Dewes also scored two runs apiece, to split the team lead. Alexa Romero collected the win, her eighth of the year, with five innings pitched and seven strikeouts.
SU got right back to work in game two as well. The Orange scored five runs in the first inning, then added three more in the second, later holding on for an 8-2 victory. The hero in that contest, however, was Faith Cain, who tallied five RBIs on two hits. Her exclamation point on the second consecutive rout was a three-run home run in the second inning to extend the lead to 8-0.
Up next for Syracuse is a quick turnaround on a Friday doubleheader at Pittsburgh, followed by a third game on Saturday. Just 1.5 games above them in the standings, the Panthers need to beat the Orange to edge a bit closer to securing an ACC Tournament spot. Meanwhile, Syracuse would need at least two wins on the weekend to position themselves for a potential return to the conference postseason.
All of SU’s remaining conference games will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra, for those looking to follow along as the season enters the stretch run.