Story, Photo, and Video by Julia Morris
Syracuse, N.Y. – Corinne Ozanne picked a good time to hit
her 12th home run of the season.
The Syracuse University Orange’s home run leader stepped up to the plate in the bottom of
the fourth inning with Syracuse (19-26, 3-13 ACC) down a run to Virginia
(16-39, 4-19 ACC). On the second pitch
of the at bat, the righty drilled a shot to left center that easily
cleared the fence. Ozanne flipped her
bat immediately after she hit the two run homer that gave the Orange an 8-7
lead. That home run was one of six in the
game for Syracuse, whose bats powered them to a 14-9 victory over the Cavaliers on Saturday afternoon.
“I pimped it a little bit, yeah, I did,” Ozanne said when
asked about her bat flip after the home run. “We work on that in practice, if
you know it’s gone and it’s gone then you better let everybody else know that
it’s gone too.”
Virginia Strikes First
but Orange Quickly Respond
Virginia started the scoring in the top of the first
inning when Danni Ingraham hit an RBI single down the first base line to give
the Cavaliers a 1-0 lead. The freshman
played well for Virginia, finishing the game 2-for-5 with two RBIs.
However, the Orange women answered with three runs of their own in
the bottom half of the inning. Senior
Julie Wambold, who was playing her second to last game as a member of the
Orange, hit a three-run home run to right center that put Syracuse back on top
3-1. The homer also put Wambold over the
100 mark for career RBIs, giving her 102.
“She’s been struggling and not getting the big hits,” Coach Leigh
Ross said. “But that was nice for her to get that one.”
Over the next few innings, both teams’ offenses answered each time the other scored. UVA
scored two runs in the top of the third, one as the result of an error by Orange
first baseman Sydney O’Hara. Ingraham
hit a grounder to first but it popped out of O’Hara’s glove and allowed Iyana
Hughes to score and tie the game at three.
O’Hara made up for the error in the bottom half of the inning though as
she lined a grounder to right for a two RBI single that put Syracuse up 5-3.
“Coach always says let the mistakes go,” O’Hara said. “I knew I messed up and you know it’s going
to happen and I was just focusing on my at bat that inning.”
Virginia Scores Four in the Fourth but Ozanne Homer Gives Orange the Lead
The Cavaliers’ offense got off to a quick start in the top
of the fourth inning. Lauren Heintzelman
led off the inning with a homer to left field that made the score 5-4. Ingraham capped the four-run inning by
hitting a single to left that gave Virginia a 7-5 lead.
But Ozanne’s home run in the bottom half of the inning put
Syracuse back up and the Orange led the rest of the way. Virginia pitcher Alex Fomby, who has allowed opponents to hit .354 against her this season, could not find a way to shut
down Syracuse.
Maddi Doane also had two home runs in the game, the first a solo
shot to right that cut the Virginia lead to 7-6. She hit her second in the bottom of the
fifth, a three-run homer that put Syracuse up 12-7. Doane finished 4-for-4 with four RBIs.
“Her first home run was nice and then her second one she was
just really becoming unglued,” Coach Ross said.
Ozanne also hit her second home run of the game shortly
after Doane went yard. She hit another two-run shot that gave the Orange a 14-7
lead. Syracuse finished with
14 hits.
“It’s confidence,” Ross said. “It helps everybody when
everybody is hitting.”
Cater Silences Virginia Offense in Final Innings
Syracuse ace Jocelyn Cater, who struck out 12 and earned
a win in the first game of the doubleheader, replaced started Lindsey Larkin
and pitched the last three innings for the Orange.
“We had gotten enough out of her (Lindsey),” Coach Ross
said. “They were on her and we knew if
we were going to stay in this game let’s go for the wins now and not save
Jocelyn for tomorrow.”
If Cater was tired from the 214 pitches she threw on the
afternoon, she did not seem to show signs of it. She added five more strikeouts and gave up
only two runs in relief.
“I think I was throwing quite hard today and that’s
something I’ve been working on lately,” Cater said. “I’ve worked on a lot of
high pitches and a lot of change and I worked a lot from the outside corner and
then worked in after that.”
Virginia scored one of its final two runs in the top of the
seventh but it was not enough to spark a comeback and Syracuse secured the 14-9
victory.
Next Up
Syracuse and Virginia will play the final game of their three-game
series Sunday at Skytop field. The
game is the last game of the season for Syracuse, who will honor seniors Mary
Dombrowski, Lindsay Taylor, and Julie Wambold before the game. First pitch is set for noon.
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