Syracuse Travels To Indiana For Series Against Notre Dame

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Syracuse softball continues its Atlantic Coast Conference road slate against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish this weekend. The Orange will kick off the first of three games on Friday, Mar. 24 at Melissa Cook Stadium at 4:30 p.m., with a 1 p.m. matchup on Saturday, Mar. 25. First pitch for the series finale is scheduled for 4 p.m. on Sunday, Mar. 26.

The Friday and Saturday contests will be streamed live on ACC Network Extra, while the Sunday matchup will be televised nationally on ACC Network.

ORANGE UPDATE:

Syracuse (9-14, 0-6 ACC) won both games of the doubleheader this week against Canisius (10-11). The Orange outscored the Golden Griffins, 10-5.
Junior lefthander Lindsey Hendrix struck out five in the 3-1 first game victory. Hendrix yielded only three hits and one run to improve her record to 4-6 on the season.
Senior Kaia Oliver kept the Golden Griffins scoreless through her five innings of work in the 7-4 game two win, striking out four to complete the sweep and improve her season record to 2-1.
Freshman Madelyn Lopez blasted her first collegiate home run in the seventh inning of game one. Her dinger over the right field wall gave Lopez her second RBI of the game and the Orange the win.
The 2023 Orange are the youngest team in the ACC, as freshman make up 42 percent of the roster (10-of-24).
Syracuse continues to improve on the defensive side of the game, ranking fifth in the ACC with a fielding percentage of 0.967. The Orange finished last season 10^th in fielding percentage.

SCOUTING THE FIGHTING IRISH:

Notre Dame (17-7, 3-3 ACC) rank sixth in the ACC and 38 in the latest RPI standings from the NCAA.
The Fighting Irish enter the weekend matchups on the tail of an 11-3 five-inning victory over Miami (OH).
Junior catcher Carlli Kloss leads her team in batting average (.366), runs (21), and hits (30).
Notre Dame's pitching staff ranks eighth in the ACC in earned run average (2.95), led by Micaela Kastor (4-0) and Payton Tidd (9-4).
Head coach Deanna Gumpf is in her 22^nd season as leader of the Notre Dame softball program. As the only coach in Notre Dame school history with over 800 career wins, she entered this season with a .704-win percentage.

THE SERIES:

Syracuse and Notre Dame have met 40 times on the softball field, with the Irish leading the all-time series, 10-30.
Notre Dame took the last two matchups at Skytop Softball Stadium. The Fighting Irish beat the Orange 5-2 in the first contest and 9-0 in the second.
The Orange and the Irish have split the past six games 3-3.

UP NEXT:

Syracuse opens its home schedule on Friday, Mar. 31 at 3 p.m. against Louisville. The Louisville series will be followed by a home series against NC State, scheduled for Thursday, April 6 at 6 p.m.

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