Greg Szklany, Athletic Communications Assistant – Syracuse University
MOBILE, Ala. – Freshman Sydney O’Hara threw a complete game, no-hitter in her collegiate debut as the –/rv Syracuse softball team split a pair of matches in its season opener in the Mardi Gras Tournament on Friday, Feb. 8 in Mobile, Ala.
Behind O’Hara, Syracuse won its first game of the day 9-0 against Austin Peay in six innings. In the second game of the night, SU’s rally came up short as the Orange fell 2-1 to nationally-ranked No. 20/22 South Alabama.
“I think Syd (Sydney O’Hara) for her first outing did a great job. The first game – everybody was excited, hit the ball well. Corey (Corinne Ozanne) had quite a few RBI, she was real clutch for us,” said head coach Leigh Ross. “The second game – I was very disappointed. I think that was definitely a game we should have won. WE caused our own mistakes and gave runs away. It’s so frustrating as a coach when you know it’s just a lack of focus.
In the opener, O’Hara’s no-hit shutout was Syracuse’s seventh in program history. She struck out 12 batters, becoming just the 10th pitcher in school-history to reach that mark and one of only five to do so in a six inning game. The rookie also helped her own cause at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a double and two runs batted in (RBI).
Five other players registered multi-hit games against Austin Peay, including sophomore Corinne Ozanne who went 3-for-4 with a double and four RBI and junior Julie Wambold who was a perfect 3-for-3. Senior Shirley Daniels added two hits, two stolen bases and an RBI.
Syracuse started the contest with a pair of runs in the top of the first inning to jump out to an early lead. After Daniels drew a leadoff walk and a single by Wambold, a double steal put the Orange’s first run on the scoreboard with Daniels taking off for home on the throw down to second. Ozanne followed it up with an RBI double to left center as Syracuse took a 2-0 lead after the top half of the inning.
SU added on three more runs in the second to extend the margin to 5-0. With two outs and a runner on second, Daniels doubled down the left field line to plate the third run of the game. Daniels’ two-base knock began a string of four straight hits in which both O’Hara and Ozanne each recorded run-scoring singles to set the score at 5-0.
With a chance to end the game early, the Orange tacked on four more runs in the top half of the sixth to go up 9-0. O’Hara smacked a doubled off the base of the left field wall and two batters later Ozanne drove in two more with a single through the right side. Ozanne scored another two batters later on Nicole Lunsdstrom’s first career RBI.
In the pitching circle, O’Hara set the tone early. She sat down the first three batters before surrendering a walk and hit batsman to begin the second inning. After that, O’Hara settled down, striking out the next five batters. Three-up, three-down was the theme for O’Hara as she didn’t allow another base runner until Laurel Burroughs reached base on an error with two outs in the sixth inning.
“I was really nervous at first, but Jenna (Caira) made me calm down,” said O’Hara on making her debut. “During warm-ups I felt like my pitches were on point and in the game I knew exactly where to throw to each batter when they came back up. I was just really focused.”
The second game of the night featured a pitcher’s duel between junior Lindsay Taylor and Hannah Campbell.
“I thought they had a great pitcher and we battled pretty well,” said Ross. “We just couldn’t piece anything together throughout the game. But if we could have held on defensively, then we win that game 1-0.”
Trailing by two heading into the final inning, Lundstrom blasted her first career home run to cut the Orange deficit in half at 2-1. Freshman Ellie Forkin smacked a pinch hit single to put the tying run on base. However, Campbell retired the next two batters and the Jaguars held on for the win.
Lundstrom had her second multi-hit game of the day with one going for her solo shot. Taylor had a strong outing, lasting five innings while yielding one run on four hits.
Both pitchers took shutouts into the fifth inning, but each team had chances to plate runs
before then. Syracuse looked to get off to a hot start again, but left two runners on base. After doubling with one out in the second, sophomore Danielle Chitkowski was stranded on second. A two-out triple by Blair Johnson in the bottom of the third had the Jaguars in business, but Taylor got the next batter to fly out to left field.
South Alabama finally broke through for the game’s first score in the fifth inning. Emily Messer led off the inning with a walk and came around to score on back-to-back sacrifice bunts. With runners on second and third and only out, Taylor pitched out of the jam to keep it a one-run game. An inning later Messer added an insurance run on her two-out single up the middle to put South Alabama up 2-0.
