'Cuse Sweeps First Day In Cali

Friday, February 20

Cathedral City, CA

9:00 PM EST

Syracuse University

5-6

Loyola Marymount

4-6

Loyola Marymount

Syracuse

2/21/2015 11:24:00 AM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

‘Cuse walked off against Loyola Marymount and edged Northwestern soon after

CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif. – Neither game fell short of dramatic as a two-out rally in the bottom of the seventh lifted the Orange (6-6) over Loyola Marymount (4-6) and a masterful pitching performance sealed Northwestern's (3-8) fate in a one-run game.

Game One: Syracuse 4, Loyola Marymount 3 | Winning Pitcher: Jocelyn Cater

The top of the lineup did its job as hitters one-through-four accounted for all four of Syracuse's runs.

After Sydney O'Hara threw a scoreless opening frame, Maddi Doane kicked things off for the Orange in the first inning with a double down the left field line. The ensuing at-bat, LMU pitched around Sammy Fernandez to get to Corinne Ozanne with runners on first and second, no outs.

Ozanne came through, singling through the right side to score Doane and heads up base running allowed Fernandez to sneak into third. With runners on the corners and no outs, Julie Wambold came through, singling to drive Fernandez home and give Syracuse a 2-0 lead to begin the game.

The Lions were held scoreless until the third when they scored its first run of the ball game on a sacrifice fly to right field. From that moment on, neither team could get anything going offensively until the sixth when LMU began its comeback.

With two outs and two strikes, Loyola Marymount launched a home run to left to tie the game at two. Its next time up, it scored the go-ahead run on a two-out double down the right field line to take a 3-2 lead into the bottom of the seventh.

It appeared as though LMU would escape the Orange after two quick outs to begin the inning, but Doane and Fernandez each singled to keep Syracuse alive, giving Ozanne two on and two out with a runner in scoring position.

The junior infielder ripped a single through the left side to score Doane from second in a close play at the plate to tie the game, which led to a walk-off single up the middle to score Fernandez and give 'Cuse a 4-3 victory.

In 6.2 innings of work, Sydney O'Hara let up just three runs; two earned, and recorded four strikeouts. After giving up the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh Cater entered the game to get the ground out putting an end to LMU's rally.

Game Two: Syracuse 2, Northwestern 1 | Winning Pitcher: Jocelyn Cater
Syracuse jumped right back into things with a game against Northwestern after the Wildcats nearly knocked off No. 13 Arizona in their previous game. Both teams were held scoreless until the top of the second when Mary Dombrowski launched one into orbit with two outs in the inning, giving 'Cuse a 1-0 lead.

Neither team could gain an edge, as the Wildcats couldn't seem to figure out Cater. She singled to lead off the fourth and was pinch ran for by ShaVonne Higgins who advanced to second on Danielle Chitkowski's sacrifice in the next at-bat.

Back-to-back walks by Dombrowski and Rachel Burkhardt loaded the bases, leading to Fernandez walking to bring in Syracuse's second run of the ball game. From that point on neither team scored until the bottom of the seventh when Northwestern decided to make things interesting, loading the bases with one out in the inning.

With the bases loaded, Cater forced the sacrifice fly to right that brought in the first and only run of the game. Giving her two outs and a one-run lead to work with. She finished Northwestern off, getting the ensuing batter to fly out to left to seal Syracuse's 2-1 victory.

Cater was masterful, throwing a complete game in which she allowed just one run on three hits while striking out nine.