Orange Come up Short Against #9 Sooners, Rebels

Saturday, February 13

Las Vegas, NV

6:45 PM

Syracuse University

1-2

Oklahoma

2-2

Oklahoma

Syracuse

2/14/2016 1:33:00 AM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

LAS VEGAS, Nev. - The Syracuse softball team fell to No. 9 Oklahoma 7-0 and UNLV 6-1 on Saturday at Eller Media Stadium to wrap up its play at the Sportco Kick Off Classic. The Orange are now 1-3 on the season heading into next weekend's BIG TEN/ACC Challenge.

GAME 1
The Sooners got on the board right away off of a two-run homerun in the first inning and another two-run homer in the top of the second, making it difficult for the Orange to erase the deficit. At the bottom of the second, freshman Alicia Hansen registered the first hit of the game for the Orange off of a single to right field.

Oklahoma didn't back down, as the Sooners reeled in two more runs at the top of the third in a bases loaded situation, while adding one more run to the mix at the top of the fourth. That's as far as Oklahoma would get, however, as junior pitcher Sydney O'Hara and the Syracuse defense held the Sooners scoreless for the rest of the way.

Freshman Hailey Archuleta registered her first base hit of her career, advancing to first off of a hit to center field. A lead-off swing to center field by senior Corinne Ozanne in the bottom of the seventh gave the Orange a glimpse of hope, but the Sooners ended all hope with a fly out and a strikeout to cap a 7-0 victory.

Ozanne and Hansen both went 1-3 on the afternoon, while Archuleta recorded a hit off of her only at-bat for the day. The duo of Ozanne and Hansen also racked up seven putouts apiece, while sophomore Sammy Fernandez tallied five assists over the course of seven innings.

O'Hara came in for pitcher Jocelyn Cater at the top of the fifth, allowing just one Sooner run in the final three innings while striking out two batters along the way.

GAME 2
The second game against the Rebels began in similar fashion, as UNLV struck first in the second inning off of a single that advanced a Rebel runner home. UNLV tried to keep things going, but a ground out to pitcher AnnaMarie Gatti ended the inning for the Rebels, leaving two on base.

UNLV struck again in the bottom of the third, as a Rebel powered one past the center field fence to bring a 2-0 advantage for the home team.

A lead-off single through the right side by Sydney O'Hara got things started for the Orange in the top of the fourth, before redshirt sophomore Olivia Martinez and freshman Hannah Dossett loaded the bases for Syracuse off of a hit by a pitch and a walk. Sophomore Rachel Burkhardt was hit by another pitch to send O'Hara to home plate, bringing the Orange its first run of the day.

It was the bottom of the fourth, however, that did the Orange in, as the Rebels racked up four runs to create a 6-1 advantage for UNLV heading into the final two innings.

Corinne Ozanne stroked a base hit through the left side at the top of the fifth, but that would prove to be the last hit the Orange would get, as the Rebels forced 1-2-3 outs in consecutive innings to seal a 6-1 UNLV victory.

O'Hara gained two hits off of three at-bats in the final game of the day, while Sammy Fernandez and Ozanne recorded one hit apiece. Ozanne came up big on the defensive end as well, collecting a game-high 12 putouts. Burkhardt registered her first RBI of the 2016 season and the 18th RBI of her career.

The Orange are back in action next weekend at the BIG TEN/ACC Challenge in Atlanta, Ga. Syracuse faces Purdue and Ohio State two times each over the course of three days, with the Orange and the Boilermakers starting things off on Friday, Feb. 19 at 4 p.m.

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