Orange Clinch Series-Opener Over Tar Heels

Saturday, April 22

1 PM

Syracuse University

26-16, 0

North Carolina

35-13, 0

North Carolina

Syracuse

4/22/2017 3:49:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

Gatti, Romero strong from the pitcher’s circle

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The pair of AnnaMarie Gatti and Alexa Romero combined for five strikeouts on the day, as Syracuse (26-16, 7-9 ACC) claimed the series-opener over RV North Carolina (35-13, 13-6 ACC), 3-1, on Saturday afternoon at Skytop Softball Stadium.

Gatti (7-5) dished out four strikeouts in 6.2 innings pitched to hold the Tar Heels to four hits and one run and earn the win.

"I thought she pitched big in big situations, meaning that there were some big spots, like bases loaded, where we needed a ground ball to get out and we got a ground ball," head coach Mike Bosch said of Gatti's performance. "I thought she stepped up and competed in those situations to get us out of those innings.

"She knew the size of this game and the importance of this weekend and I think she really stepped up."

Romero checked in to face the final batter of the day in the top of the seventh, as the freshman went on to tack on the fifth and final strikeout with the bases loaded. The effort earned Romero a save, her second of the season.

The Orange offense was strong in today's matchup, as 'Cuse outhit UNC, 6-4.

"They were aggressive early," Bosch noted of the Syracuse offense. "They went up there looking for the first pitch and they were able to put the first couple pitches in play. When you're facing a good pitcher, if you can get them right out of the box, you give yourself a little bit of an advantage. So that two spot in the first inning was good for us."

SU was able to get on the board right away, as a single from Sammy Fernandez and a double from Alicia Hansen put two runners on base right away. Sydney O'Hara followed with an RBI single to left field, before Faith Cain added the second RBI with a groundout to the shortstop.

The pair of Fernandez and Hansen were both 1-for-3 with one and two runs, respectively. O'Hara was also 1-for-3 with an RBI.

The Tar Heels used a solo home run in the top of the second to avoid the shutout, but Gatti registered back-to-back strikeouts to stop the scoring at one run for UNC.

Bryce Holmgren tallied the final RBI of the day for the Orange in the bottom of the fifth inning, as the sophomore sent a two-out RBI single to left field to bring Hansen in for the score.

Neither team was able to get anything going in the sixth and seventh, and Syracuse ended the game on top, 3-1.

The pair will be back tomorrow for a doubleheader to close out the series at Skytop Softball Stadium. The first pitch of game one is set to be thrown at 10 a.m. The game will be broadcast live on ACC Network Extra and live stats will be available.

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