SB | Syracuse still looking for defining win at Big East tourney

By: Didier Morais

Posted: 5/8/08

Leigh Ross wanted her team to defy the odds. During the preseason, the Big East's coaches projected the Syracuse softball team to finish no higher than eighth place in the conference.

Ross used the prediction as bulletin board material to inspire her players. It worked.

Syracuse captured sixth place in the conference - for the second year in a row - and qualified for its fourth consecutive Big East tournament, the longest streak of its kind in school history.

"With this team, I knew it was in their hands," Ross said. "We've accomplished one of our goals from the start, and that's qualifying for the Big East tournament."

The sixth-seeded Orange softball team travels to Kentucky where it takes on third-seeded Connecticut today at 10 a.m. for its first-round, Big East tournament matchup at Louisville's Ulmer Stadium. The winner of that game will face either second-seeded DePaul or seventh-seeded Pittsburgh Friday at 2:30 p.m.

Last time both teams met, the Huskies swept the Orange for the first time since 2003. UConn trounced Syracuse, 9-1, in the opener, and narrowly won the second, 7-6. SU came within a couple feet of winning the second game, but UConn outfielder Micah Truax made a game-saving catch on the warning track to end the game.

Historically, SU has not achieved much success in the postseason. Of its four tournament appearances, it has mustered one sole victory, which came in 2005 against Villanova.

Since then, the Orange has strung together a series of feeble postseason performances. Last year, Louisville easily defeated Syracuse, 5-1, and the previous year, DePaul routed the Orange, 8-0, in five innings.

This year, Ross wants to end the trend, rejuvenate the softball program and silence pessimistic critics. For the Orange, today is more than just a playoff game.

"Now that we qualified we want to make a little statement," Ross said. "We want to prove we're better than sixth place, we're better than that team, we're better than the eighth place that they predicted we would end it up. This could be a good chance to show some people we are a little better than they expected."

In addition to addressing the critics, the coaching staff hopes to send another statement to the rest of the conference. It aspires to utilize the Big East tournament to publicly launch itself into the upper-echelon of the conference.

"We talked before the (Notre Dame game)," associate head coach Kyle Jamieson said. "We said at some point during the year, this program needs to start beating the teams ahead of us, the DePauls, the Lousivilles, the South Floridas.

Throughout the season, Syracuse fared well against most top-tier teams. In early April, top-seeded South Florida barely eclipsed the Orange, winning both games by merely one run. During its last regular-season game, SU erased a 7-3 deficit in the bottom of the seventh inning to upset fourth-seeded Notre Dame, 8-7.

"The win against Notre Dame was huge," senior outfielder Chanel Roehner said. "To end on such a great note gives us huge momentum. We weren't even playing our best. We can take anyone. If we play like we know how to play then there's no stopping us."

Jamieson also appreciates the significance of the upset. He believes it can jumpstart the team's confidence going into the tournament.

"It starts with winning our first game," Jamieson said. "It only takes three games and then you're the Big East champions. It's whatever team gets hot and plays good ball that will come away next weekend going to (NCAA) regionals."

But in the end, Ross and the team have embraced SU's role as the underdog. The last time SU possessed that title, before this season, it defied the odds by securing a sixth seed in the Big East tournament. For now, the Orange will rest its hopes on producing an encore performance.

"Everybody knows that you want to be the underdog," Ross said. "You want to be the team that nobody is looking at. You can play relaxed, and there's no pressure in holding a spot. You're just in there giving it your all. I have a good feeling about it because when we are relaxed, we play really well."

dsmorais@syr.edu