Record-Setting Offensive Day Leads to Doubleheader Sweep

Tuesday, April 12

Syracuse, N.Y.

12 p.m.

Syracuse University

Providence

Tiffany Robinson contributed four hits, three runs batted in and two runs scored in SU's doubleheader sweep of Providence.

Record-Setting Offensive Day Leads to Doubleheader Sweep

4/12/2005 5:31:52 PM | Softball

Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Syracuse softball team scored 20 runs and banged out 25 hits, defeating the Providence Friars, 8-0 in five innings and 12-4 in six innings, in both games of a doubleheader at the SU Softball Stadium on Tuesday, April 12. Syracuse is off to its best 30-game start in school history at 18-12 overall with a 6-2 league mark. The Friars are now 23-10 overall and 3-3 in BIG EAST play.

All eight players that started both games of the doubleheader recorded at least two hits and a run batted in during the course of the two outings. Senior Tanya Rose led the offense with five hits. She also scored four runs and drove in two. Senior Tiffany Robinson had four hits and drove in three runs. Junior Cassie Morales led the Orange with four runs batted in on three hits. Sophomore Courtney Mosch and freshman Chanel Roehner each had three hits and two RBI. Senior Shawna Norris had two hits and three runs batted in, including her team-best fifth home run of the season.

Syracuse’s 12 runs in game two set a school record for most tallies in a BIG EAST game. The old mark was 11 set against Providence in 2001. The 20 combined runs tied the school record for runs in a league doubleheader. The Orange also scored 20 runs against Providence in two games during the 2003 season.

Freshman Erin Downey was the winning pitcher in both games for the Orange to improve her record to 10-5. She started game one, throwing her second shutout of the season. Downey allowed just four hits and struck out three in five innings. She came on in relief in game two with SU trailing 4-0 in the second inning, and pitched the last four and two-thirds. She gave up just two hits and a walk, while striking out three. Downey is 5-1 in BIG EAST play and has allowed only one earned run in her last 26 and one-third innings in league games.

Downey is the second-fastest Orange pitcher to reach the 10-win mark in a season. She earned her 10^th win in her 23^rd appearance, just one shy of the school record of 10 wins in 22 appearances set by Mosch last season. Downey also reached the 100-strikeout mark for the season. She struck out her 100^th batter in her 94^th inning of work, making her the second-fastest to 100 whiffs in a season (Tara DiMaggio, 87.0, 2002) and the quickest to the century mark for a career at Syracuse.

Niclole Bartholomew (12-5) was the losing pitcher for the Friars in game one. She gave up eight runs, six of which were earned, in two and two-thirds innings of work. Sara Surosky (4-3) took the loss in the nightcap. She gave up five runs, four of them earned, in two and two-thirds innings.

The Orange began the offense right off the bat in the bottom of the first in the opener. Mosch delivered a clutch two-out single that scored two runs to give Syracuse a 2-0 lead. It was the first of eight two-out RBI on the day for the Orange.

SU did not score in the second inning, but rallied for six runs in the home half of the third. Norris drove in her first run of the day with a single and sophomore Erin Gray gave SU a 4-0 lead with a sacrifice fly. After a walk by senior Jaime Grillo loaded the bases, Robinson came through with a run-scoring single. Roehner drove in two runs in the inning and Morales drove in the eighth and final run of the game for Syracuse with a single to right field.

Grillo reached base all three times she batted in game one with a hit and two walks. Rose and Morales each had two hits in the game.

It was the Friars turn to put together a big inning in game two. Neither team scored in the first, but Providence strung together four hits to score four runs in the top of the second and take a 4-0 lead. Jackie Karsnia had an RBI single, while Shannon Garvin was credited with an RBI when SU couldn’t field a slow roller with the bases loaded. Michele Bowers and Kalena Petersen also drove in runs for Providence in the inning.

That was all the Friars would get, however, as Downey allowed only two hits and a walk for the remainder of the game. The Orange began the comeback in the bottom of the second, plating three runs of its own. Mosch led off with a double and an error and hit batter loaded the bases. Robinson plated two runs with a one-single. Rose knocked in the third run of the inning with an RBI ground out.

Syracuse took the lead for good in the third inning. Switenko doubled and Norris belted a two-out, two-run homer to center to give SU a 5-4 lead. It was Norris’ second-game-winning homer in three games and her third game-winning hit in SU’s last six games.

SU kept up the offensive pressure, plating three more in the fourth, one in the fifth and three in the sixth to invoke the eight-run rule with one out in the sixth. Morales drove in two with a bases-loaded single in the fourth inning, which was followed by a Switenko sacrifice fly. Morales had her third RBI of the game in the fifth with a sacrifice fly to put the Orange up 9-4.

The game ended in the sixth when Mosch led off with a double and moved to third on a wild pitch. Norris was hit by a pitch and Gray drove home SU’s 10^th run with a single. Katie Kaempfer then fouled out to first base, but because the Providence player made the catch with her back to the infield, both Norris and Gray attempted to tag up. The throw to third base got away, allowing Norris to score and Gray to move to third base. Robinson had an infield hit to put runners on the corners and Rose finished it off with a single to left field.

Gray had two hits, two runs scored and an RBI in the nightcap. Rose and Robinson each had three-hit games for the Orange.

The 16 combined runs in game two tied a SU Softball Stadium record. The Orange and Siena combined for 16 runs on April 24, 2003. Syracuse’s 15 hits in the nightcap also tied a stadium record held by Notre Dame (April 8, 2001) and the Orange (vs. Pittsburgh, May 6, 2002).

SU has outscored its opponents 47-8 in its last seven games. The Orange lineup is hitting .347, while the tandem of Downey and Mosch has limited opponents to a .201 average with three shutouts and a 0.93 ERA.

Syracuse will try and continue its momentum when it takes to the road for a in-state doubleheader at Niagara on Wednesday, April 13. The Orange returns to conference action on Saturday, April 16 at Boston College. Syracuse’s next home games are versus Cornell on Wednesday, April 20.