Orange Loses to Wisconsin, 4-1

Friday, March 17

Sacramento, Calif.

10:00 p.m. EST

Syracuse University

vs. Wisconsin (Capital Classic)

Freshman Tonye McCorkle had SU's only extra-base hit against Wisconsin.

3/18/2006 1:14:04 AM | Softball

UW 4, SU 1

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Syracuse (9-12) lost its only game on the first day of the 2006 Capital Classic to Wisconsin, 4-1, on Friday, March 17 at the Sacramento Softball Complex. The Orange’s first scheduled contest, versus Southern Utah, was cancelled due to unplayable field conditions.

The Badgers (8-10) opened the scoring, pushing a run across in the third to take a 1-0 lead. Theresa Boruta led off the top of the inning with a walk. The next batter, Sam Polito, lined a bunt back to sophomore Erin Downey (San Rafael, Calif.) for the first out, but Stephanie Chinn followed with her second career double to score Boruta. Downey stranded Chinn at third, striking out Katie Hnatyk and Joey Daniels to avoid further damage.

The Orange tied the game at 1-1 with a run in its half of the third on an RBI single by freshman Heather Kim (Boulder, Colo.) She drove in Tonye McCorkle (Santa Ana Heights Calif.), who reached on a one-out double to left field.

Wisconsin reclaimed the advantage in the fifth when Joey Daniels ripped a two-run, two-out single up the middle to score Boruta and Polito to make the score 3-1. The Badgers tacked on an unearned run in the sixth to salt away the victory.

Syracuse touched up Badgers’ starter Eden Brock for five hits, but just one went for extra bases. In addition to McCorkle and Kim, freshman Kim Weinstein (Tarzana, Calif.), junior Erin Gray (Katy, Texas) and sophomore Rachel Tilford (Birch Hills, Saskatchewan) had base hits for the Orange. Tilford also made two sparkling defensive plays in right field, taking hits away with two diving catches.

Brock allowed five hits in seven innings and struck out seven to improve to 6-5 on the season. She did not walk a batter.

Downey dropped to 5-10. She went all seven innings, allowed seven hits and struck out eight. She walked five, including the leadoff hitter in the third, fourth and fifth innings. In the third and fifth they came around to score.

The Orange will play twice on Saturday, March 18. SU will meet the tournament host Sacramento State Hornets at 3:30 p.m. EST. and entertains Big Ten foe Minnesota at 6:00 p.m. EST.