'Cuse Splits Long Awaited Home Opener With UNC

Story by Michael Castellano 
Photo courtesy of cuse.com

Syracuse, N.Y. -- It took until the first week of April, but the relentless Central New York weather finally allowed the Orange softball team to make its home debut at Skytop Stadium Friday afternoon. Syracuse split the doubleheader with ACC foe North Carolina on a mild 60 degree day in front of 213 fans who came out to see SU get its first conference win of the season.

The Orange had seen a doubleheader with Canisius cancelled and three games moved to from Syracuse to Louisville because of weather and field conditions here.

Game 1

Syracuse (14-19, 1-7 ACC ) snapped North Carolina's (26-10, 10-3) four-game winning streak and shut down one of the most potent offenses in  all of college softball. The Orange held UNC to just two runs in the first game of the doubleheader. The Tar Heels lineup boasts seven starters with .322 averages or better.

"I think we needed that win." SU coach Leigh Ross said. "We've been battling all season and I think our record doesn't quite indicate how good we actually are. Today was really big for us."

The Orange was led by ace Jocelyn Cater on the mound. The Canadian native was masterful yet again for Syracuse. She struck out seven Tar Heels' batters and held their lineup to just three hits. Kristen Brown who leads the nation in home runs with 17 for North Carolina was shut down by Cater who kept her hitless in four at-bats.

Syracuse jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second when Julie Wambold launched a 2-run homer to deep center.

Shortstop Corinne Ozanne hit her team leading 11th home run of the season in the third inning to extend the SU lead to 4-1.

The Tar Heels threatened in the top of the sixth. They had runners on first and second with one out, but Cater struck Lauren Walker out and got Tracy Chandless to fly out to center field to end the inning.

Cater got out of three such jams with runners in scoring position and less than two outs.

"I just kept turning around to talk to myself on the mound." Cater said. "I just wanted to stay calm and keep my team in the game."

That's just what Cater did. The Canadian National team member went the distance allowing just three hits to go along with eight strikeouts. She now has 169 K's in 131.2 innings pitched this season.

"She's just a great pitcher," Ross said. "She faces these types of hitters with the Canadian National Team all the time so its no surprise she has success."

Freshman Maddi Doane continued her hot hitting collecting two more hits to add to her team leading total of 29 and upping her batting average to .284.

The SU offense has now scored 34 times in its last seven games with all of Friday's runs in game 1 coming via the long ball.

Game 2

The nightcap of the doubleheader wasn't as kind for the Orange. North Carolina's Sydney Matzko picked up her ninth win of the season and Jenna Kelly's eighth home run of the year in the top of the seventh gave the Tar Heels the insurance they needed to pickup the 6-2 victory.

It was the starting pitching debut for SU freshman AnnaMarie Gatti. She had missed the last month of the season with a foot injury that kept her in a walking boot.

Gatti got the Orange off to a promising start allowing just one run on four hits thru the first five innings even without all her pitches clicking.

"I just didn't have my best stuff tonight," Gatti said. "My changeup was working, but that was about it. I was just focusing on keeping my team in the game."

The Orange were in the game, tied at 1-1 until the sixth when UNC scored twice off an RBI single by Kati Causey. Jenna Kelly, who advanced to second off Causey's single, later scored after a wild pitch giving the Tar Heels a 3-1 lead.

Kelly's 3-run bomb for UNC in the top of the seventh extended the lead to 6-1.

"I thought we did a good job[in the second game]," Ross said. "We just didn't score enough runs to stay in the game."

Syracuse managed eight hits off Matzko, but lacked the timely one to keep the game close and stranded nine runners on base.

Maddi Doane continued her hot hitting with two more in the nightcap. She was 4-7 combined in both games.

Gatti finished the day allowing seven hits and three runs in five-and-two-thirds innings.

"Even though we lost our confidence is up right now," Gatti said. "Even from our last game with Fordham[SU split a DH with the reigning A-10 champions last Wednesday] you can just see how much confidence we have as a team this year."

Syracuse is scheduled to wrap up the three game series with North Carolina Saturday at 1p.m. at the Skytop Softball Stadium.