Syracuse softball sets strong foundation with winning season

The Syracuse Orange aren’t your typical softball program. Not many others spend nearly two months on the road to start the season, but it’s necessary because of the long Syracuse winters. Regardless of the difficult schedule, the team showed that it’s on the right track.

The Orange finished the 2022 season 26-21, their first winning season since 2018. An impressive run down the stretch included an upset shutout over #11 Duke and sweeping UNC in the final three-game series to make the ACC Softball Championship. In the first round, they bested Louisville, a team that had swept them earlier in the spring, 2-0 for the first Tournament win in program history.

They would end up falling 2-1 to #2 Virginia Tech the next day, but for what was supposed to be a rebuilding year, the Orange definitely demonstrated some improvement.

Next year’s team will have many familiar faces, as only three players are graduating from SU (possibly four if senior outfielder Carli Campell does not pursue a graduate program). The rest of the roster is an even split of rising sophomores, juniors, and seniors, with six of each sticking around.

Angel Jasso will return to the top of the Orange lineup, where she hit .374 and stole 21 bases this spring. Fellow Texan Tessa Galipeau got on base with a patient eye, drawing the 5th most walks in the conference (34) as a true freshman. On the mound, Lindsey Hendrix led the Syracuse staff with a 2.63 ERA and 95 strikeouts. All three of them have at least two more years of eligibility and together should make up a nice core.

On top of that, the Cuse have the #14 incoming class according to Extra Inning Softball.

With more development and a little luck, maybe we’ll see the Orange make a deeper ACC Championship run next year.