2008 Woodie Awards
The Daily OrangeSB | Syracuse still looking for defining win at Big East tourney
By Didier Morais
Posted: 5/7/08, 7:58 PM EST Section: Sports
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."
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."
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