Orangewomen Take On In-State Rival Cornell
4/20/2004 3:01:51 PM | Softball
ITHACA, N.Y. – The Orangewomen softball team will go for wins 19 and 20 on the season when it travels to Cornell for a 3 p.m. doubleheader on Wednesday, April 21. Syracuse is 18-18 overall and 2-4 in the BIG EAST, while the Big Red stand at 27-11 overall and 6-4 in the Ivy League.
ORANGEWOMEN WIN THREE OF FOUR
Syracuse went 3-1 in four contests last week, sweeping a doubleheader with Canisius and splitting a twin bill with Providence. In the first game against the Golden Griffins, the Orangewomen rallied from two four-run deficits to take an 8-7 victory. Junior Tiffany Robinson drove in the game-winning run with a single in the bottom of the seventh inning. SU took the nightcap, 8-0 in five innings. Sophomore Cassie Morales belted a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth to end the game. Against Providence, SU tried to come back from a late three-run hole, plating two runs in the bottom of the seventh, but the rally came up just short in a 7-6 loss. SU won the second game against the Friars, 6-5, on an RBI single by Morales in the bottom of the eighth inning.
SCOUTING THE BIG RED
Cornell has won five of its last six outings, all at home. Wednesday’s games will be the seventh and eighth consecutive home games for the Big Red. Lauren May leads the regulars with a .435 batting average, 11 home runs and 47 RBI. Kate Varde is hitting .347 with six homers, while Erin Sweeney is batting .344 with four home runs and 25 knocked in. Melissa Heintz is Cornell’s second-leading run producer with seven long balls and 28 RBI. As a team, the Big Red is batting .289 with 34 home runs. Sarah Sterman is Cornell’s top pitcher with a 13-7 record and a 1.90 ERA. She has three complete-game shuouts on the season. Whitney Smith is 9-3 with a 2.17 earned run average and four shutouts. Kristen Landis rounds out the pitching staff with a 5-1 record and a 3.95 ERA.
THE SYRACUSE-CORNELL SERIES
The Orangewomen have won four of the six meeting between the two teams. The squads have not played since 2002 when they split a doubleheader. Cornell won the opener 3-0, while the Orangewomen won the nightcap, 12-3 in five innings. Julie Dunn hit SU’s first-ever grand slam in the victory. The win sparked a regular season-ending 6-3 run that propelled the Orangewomen into the BIG EAST Tournament for the first time. SU is 2-2 all-time at Niemand-Robison Field.
ROSE RUNS HER WAY INTO THE RECORD BOOK
Junior Tanya Rose scored three times in the Canisius doubleheader to become the first player in school history to score 30 runs in a season. Rose broke the previous mark of 28 set by Cheryl Julicher in 2002. Rose not only owns the single-season record, but also the Orangewomen’s all-time mark. In her two-plus seasons of play, she has scored 82 runs. This season Rose leads SU in several categories, including batting average (.356), hits (42), home runs (6), slugging percentage (.585), walks (16) and on-base percentage (.445).
TWO-RUN HOMER GIVES SOPHOMORE SHORTSTOP SEASON RBI RECORD
Sophomore Alexis Switenko belted her sixth home run of the season, a two-run shot against Providence, increasing her season RBI total to a school-record 29. The previous mark was 27 held by Cheryl Julicher in 2002. Switenko’s home run ended her eight-game drought without a long ball. She is tied for the team lead with six homers on the season. Only a sophomore, Switenko is second on the SU career RBI list with 53. For the 2004 season, she ranks third on the team with a .324 batting average (36-for-111), an 88-point improvement from her .236 mark as a freshman. Switenko has also amassed seven doubles, a .568 slugging percentage, 12 walks and a .387 on-base percentage.
MOSCH SETS CONSECUTIVE WINS MARK
Freshman pitcher Courtney Mosch was the pitcher of record in all four of the Orangewomen’s games this week. Mosch was victorious in both games against Canisius, running her personal winning streak to a school-record six games. The old mark was five straight victories by Taylor Petersen in 2002. She broke the record with a three-hit shutout in game two against the Golden Griffins. The streak was broken in the first game against Providence, but she came back to earn the win in relief in game two. Mosch pitched four and two-thirds innings, allowing no runs on four hits. Making her first appearances since March 21 due to illness, Mosch did not allow an earned run in 17 and one-third innings of work this week, extending her streak to 29 and one-third innings without giving up an earned run. For the season, Mosch leads SU in every pitching category. She is 12-10 with a 1.79 ERA and 12 complete games. She has four shutouts, striking out 87 in 129.0 innings of work. Opponents are batting just .228 off the rookie right-hander. Mosch is only two victories shy of matching the school single-season wins record of 14 set by Tara DiMaggio in 2000.
MORALES SWINGING SU’S HOTTEST BAT
Sophomore Cassie Morales had a memorable week, belting a game-ending home run in SU’s 8-0 win against Canisius, and driving in the game-winner in the bottom of the eighth in the 6-5 win against Providence. In the last 13 games, Morales has been SU’s top hitter. In that stretch, she boasts a .413 batting average (19-for-46), five doubles, four home runs, 13 runs batted in, a .783 slugging percentage and a .420 on-base percentage. She has hit safely in nine of those 13 contests. For the season, Morales is hitting .336 (39-for-116) with a team-leading 12 doubles. She has five home runs and 25 runs batted in. She has been the Orangewomen’s toughest player to strikeout, going down on strikes just once every 14.5 at-bats.
ROBINSON PRODUCING FROM THE NINE SPOT
Junior Tiffany Robinson has given the Orangewomen a boost batting in the ninth spot in the order recently. In her last 13 games, the right fielder is batting .371 (13-for-35) with four multi-hit games. Robinson as also scored seven runs and driven in three during that stretch. Robinson was big in SU’s 8-7 come-from-behind victory against Canisius, plating the winning run with a single to left. For the season, Robinson ranks fourth on the team with a .307 batting average (27-for-88). She has scored 14 runs and is a perfect 7-for-7 in stolen bases.
GRAY HAS BEST DAY OF YOUNG CAREER
Freshman third baseman Erin Gray had a career day in SU’s loss to Providence with three hits and four runs batted in. She also scored a run in the contest. Gray has started to swing the bat much better in the last few games. After starting the season 5-for-36 (.139) with one run batted in, Gray has six hits in her last 16 at-bats (.375) and has driven in five runs in her last three games. She and senior Nikki Lincoln (Baton Rouge, La./Episcopal) have split time at third base this season. Gray has raised her season average to .212 (11-for-52) with a double, seven runs scored and six RBI.
ELDERBROOM EXCELS IN PINCH HITTING ROLE
Freshman Jennifer Elderbroom tied the SU single-season record for pinch hits with a leadoff double in the bottom of the eighth inning in game two against Providence. Elderbroom is 3-for-8 (.375) off the bench this season with two doubles. Elderbroom’s record-tying pinch hit set up the game-winning run. She was sacrificed to third and scored on a single. For the season, the former Central New York Player of the Year, has played in 19 games starting seven times. She has five hits, three of them doubles, three runs scored and four runs batted in.
UP NEXT ...
The Orangewomen hit the road for two BIG EAST doubleheaders later this week. SU is at Rutgers on Saturday, April 24 and finish the week with a doubleheader at Villanova on Sunday, April 25. Syracuse’s next home game is on Tuesday, April 27 at 2 p.m. in a make-up doubleheader against Connecticut.
