Orangewomen Host Second of Five Straight Home Twin Bills
4/25/2001 2:35:15 PM | Softball
THURSDAY'S GAMES …
Syracuse comes into this afternoon's twin bill with Cornell winners of five of its last eight games … The Orangewomen split a doubleheader with Penn State on Tuesday, losing 7-2 in the opener and winning the second game, 2-1, in eight innings … Cornell clinched its fifth-consecutive 30-win season with a 9-1 victory versus cross-town rival Ithaca on Tuesday … Today is the second of five consecutive home doubleheaders for SU.
THE SU VS. CORNELL SERIES …
The two teams split a doubleheader in Ithaca last season in their first-ever meeting …Syracuse won the opener, 1-0 in eight innings … Tara DiMaggio tossed a two-hitter, striking out 11 … Jackie Herrman drove in the game-winner in the eighth … The Big Red took game two, 3-2 …Herrman and Cheryl Julicher drove in runs for Syracuse.
BATS STARTING TO COME ALIVE
The Syracuse bats have started to wake up during the last two weeks as the Orangewomen have gone 8-6 in their last 14 games … Syracuse hit just .171 as a team in their first 21 games, going 5-16 … During the last 14 games, SU is hitting .224 as a team … In that span, the Orangewomen have seven players hitting .200 or better compared with just two active players above the .200 mark in their first 21 outings … Christina Holowich has led the charge, posting a .429 (21-for-49) average, a .510 slugging percentage and a .451 on-base percentage … For the season, Holowich has raised her average .308 (37-for-120) … She needs just three more hits to tie the SU single-season record of 40 set by Lindsay Richards last season.
BIEMAN CLEANING UP
Senior Missy Bieman, SU's clean-up hitter for most of the season, has picked up her RBI production … Since April 10, Bieman is hitting .250 (11-for-44) with eight runs batted in … She has five extra-base hits, including a team-best three doubles, a triple and a home run, during that span … Bieman is also on a four-game hitting streak … Prior April 10, Bieman was hitting .085 (5-for-59) with two home runs and five runs batted in … Bieman's hits are also becoming more timely … She has four game-winning hits this season.
2/9 vs. Northern Illinois 3-run HR SU 7, NIU 3 4/11 at Binghamton Triple SU 2, BU 0 4/19 Siena Single SU 2, Siena 1 (8) 4/22 at Boston College Double SU 2, BC 0
GRILLO SETS DOUBLES RECORD
Freshman catcher Jaime Grillo's two doubles in the Orangewomen's 2-1 victory versus Penn State broke two Syracuse records … Grillo's second double of the contest was the Orangewomen's fifth of the game, breaking the old mark of four set against Western Kentucky last season … Grillo now has six doubles for the season, breaking Cheryl Julicher's record of four also established last year … Both of the rookies doubles resulted in runs for the Orangewomen.
ROOKIE BACKSTOP ALSO DOING IT DEFENSIVELY
Grillo has also shown defensive prowess behind the plate, catching every inning of every game for the Orangewomen this season … In SU's last two victories, Grillo has made outstanding defensive plays to prevent the tying or go-ahead runs from crossing the plate … With two runners in scoring position the third inning of a scoreless game at Boston College, Grillo picked off an Eagle runner that strayed to far off of third base for the second out of the inning … The next batter lined out to third base to end the threat … The Orangewomen went on to win the game, 2-0 in eight inning … Versus Penn State, Grillo made a catch on a foul pop that actually went out of play, but was blown back onto the field by a stiff crosswind … Grillo stayed with the ball and made a reaching catch to strand a pair of Nittanly Lions in scoring position … For the season, Grillo has thrown out 13-of-45 would-be base stealers, two more than the Orangewomen caught stealing all of last season.
5-6-7 EQUALS TWO FOR SYRACUSE
The Orangewomen's two runs in their victory versus Penn State were nearly instant replays of each other … Both runs were produced by the fifth, sixth and seventh hitters in the SU lineup … Jaime Grillo led off the second inning and eighth inning with doubles … Freshman Nikki Lincoln sacrificed the runner to third in both innings, and senior Shanna Newell drove in the run both times … Newell doubled in the second inning and her sacfrice fly in the eight scored the game-winner.
OUTFIELD TRIO PROVIDES OFFENSE
The Syracuse starting outfield of Shanna Newell in left, Christina Holowich in center and Kristen Collins in right has been doing most of the damage at the plate for SU lately … In the last eight games, the triumverate is hitting a combined .377 (29-for-77) and slugging .481 … Holowich leads the group with a .414 average (12-for-29) and three RBI during that stretch … Collins has posted a .360 average (9-for-25) with a team-leading four sacrifices … Newell, an .088 hitter in SU's first 27 games, is hitting .348 (8-for-23) with two doubles and a triple in her last eight outings … Newell also leads the team with a .522 slugging percentage during that time … The trio has also been solid in the field, making only one error in 36 chances (.972).
BROWN ON THE WINNING TRACK
After a low-water mark of 2-8 on April 8, junior pitcher Heather Brown has won five of her last seven starts to improve her record to 7-10 for the season … Brown has completed all seven of those starts, posting a 1.19 ERA … She has struck out 70 hitters in just 53 innings pitched (9.25/7 IP) and has limited opponents to a .188 batting average (36-for-192) … Brown has also had pinpoint control, walking just four batters during that time … Three of her victories have been shutouts, including a nine-inning, 21 strikeout gem versus Colgate … Brown's 21 whiffs in the game tied the NCAA record for strikeouts in a game of nine innings or less … It was the sixth-highest single-game total in NCAA Divsion I history regardless of game length.
BIG RED NEWS & NOTES …
Cornell clinched at least a share of the Ivy League championship when it defeated Columbia, 12-0, last weekend to run its conference record to 11-3 … If Harvard and Dartmouth, both 9-3, split their upcoming doubleheader, the Big Red will be the outright champs and earn the league's automatic berth into the NCAA Regionals … A sweep by either team would force a playoff in early May … Senior Allison Batten was named Ivy League Player of the Week … She hit .667 for the week with three home runs, including a grand slam versus Princeton … Nicole Zitarelli was also honored by the conference, winning the Ivy League Pitcher of the Week award … Zitarelli threw 16.1 scoreless innings … She was the winner in the conference championship clinching victory.
