Orangewomen Hit the Road for Mid-Week Doubleheaders
4/23/2002 6:02:31 PM | Softball
The Syracuse softball team will take a break from BIG EAST competition, playing doubleheaders at Cornell on Wednesday, April 24 at 3 p.m. and Siena on April 25 at 4 p.m.
The Orangewomen are 19-15 overall and 7-3 in BIG EAST play. Cornell is 22-18 overall and 6-6 in the Ivy League, while the Saints are 7-19 overall and 3-5 in the MAAC.
Freshman Tanya Rose (Milwaukie, Ore./Rex Putnam) continues to swing Syracuse’s hottest bat. Rose raised her season average to .365, going 9-for-20 with two doubles, a triple and four runs batted in last week. In the last 14 games, Rose leads the team with a .426 batting average, seven doubles and nine runs batted in. She has already set the SU single-season record for doubles with nine. Rose needs only three more hits to break the Syracuse freshman record currently held by Lindsay Richards (40, 2000).
Redshirt sophomore Cheryl Julicher (Williamsville, N.Y./Williamsville North) has broken or is on the verge of breaking several SU single-season records. She holds Syracuse’s home run record with eight round-trippers. Her solo shot to win the game versus Boston College was her 23rd RBI of the season, breaking the old mark of 22 set by Jackie Herrman in 2000. She also has drawn 17 walks this season, breaking the Orangewomen’s old mark of 14 set by Julie Dunn in 2000 and Herrman in 2001. Julicher tied Missy Bieman’s runs-scored record of 20 in a season set in 2000. She is also only two total bases shy of Christina Holowich’s 2001 record-setting total of 60. If Julicher can mantain her team-leading .563 slugging percentage (total bases divided by at-bats), she will own that mark as well. She currently holds the mark, slugging .410 in her rookie season of 2000.
Senior Heather Brown (Farmington, N.M./Farmington) is now 7-7 after winning both games of SU's doubleheader versus Boston College on Saturday. Brown started the first game and allowed only one run in the complete-game effort. She came on in relief in game two and tossed eight innings of shutout softball. She allowed just three hits and struck out six in only her third relief appearance of the season. In 15 innings of work, Brown struck out 14 and didn’t walk anyone.
Junior pitcher Tara DiMaggio (Hopewell Junction, N.Y./John Jay) struck out four batters in four innings of work versus Boston College and whiffed five versus Providence on Sunday, running her season strikeout total to 105. It is the third consecutive season that DiMaggio has had at least 100 punch-outs. She had a school-record 208 strikeouts as a freshman and 130 as a sophomore. DiMaggio is SU’s all-time strikeout leader 443 in her career.
Following the mid-week games, the Orangewomen will make a run at qualifying for the BIG EAST Tournament, playing their final 10 conference games in a five-day stretch. SU is at Villanova on Saturday, Rutgers on Sunday and Pittsburgh on Monday. SU returns home to host St. John's at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, April 30 and Seton Hall at 12 p.m. on May 1. SU is currently tied for fifth in the league. The top four teams qualify for the BIG EAST postseason.
