North Carolina 8, Syracuse 4: Orange softball season ends in ACC Tournament

Going into Thursday’s ACC Tournament matchup with No. 3 seed North Carolina, the Syracuse Orange pretty much had to win if they had any shot to make the NCAA Tournament.

Unfortunately, SU fell 8-4 to the Heels, in a rain-delayed first round game. The Orange wrap their season at 31-19, and 10-10 in ACC play. It was the. ir best year since 2012, when the program went 43-16 and made the NCAA Tournament.

North Carolina started the game with a six-run first inning, then watched the Orange attempt to battle back from there. SU scored one run each in the second and third innings, then tacked on two more in the top of the seventh inning. But it was far from enough after UNC’s hot first inning.

Faith Cain picked up her sixth home run of the year in the second inning, then Alicia Hansen added an RBI of her own in the third. After an hour-plus rain delay, the teams eventually got back to it. Bryce Holmgren knocked in the final Orange runs with a two-out RBI in the seventh inning.

Player of the year candidate Sydney O’Hara was 1-for-3 with a walk in the game. She also pitched the final two innings, allowing a hit and a run while walking four batters.

Quality season all-around by Syracuse, guided by O’Hara’s expert performance. The team has established some quality building blocks for the future, though it’ll obviously be a challenge to replace the stellar senior next year.