To keep its season alive, Syracuse would’ve had to beat Virginia Tech for the third time in four games.

But the Orange couldn’t convert.

Ineffective pitching from SU (24-25, 12-12 Atlantic Coast) led to 10 runs crossing the plate for Virginia Tech (35-20, 19-9) in an eventual 10-4 Hokies victory.

Freshman pitcher Sydney O’Hara was only able to last four innings – her third appearance against the Hokies in Syracuse’s last four outings. She was tacked with five runs, four of them earned, and walked four while just striking out two.

“When you see a pitcher as much as they saw her,” SU head coach Leigh Ross said, “it’s easier to pick up on tendencies and put together good at-bats.”

Syracuse was down by two runs early in the game, but junior second baseman Julie Wambold cut the lead in half in the fourth inning when her sixth home run of the season cleared the right-field wall.

SU scored the equalizer later that inning when third baseman Danielle Chitkowski hit a game-tying double high off the right-field wall that scored O’Hara from first.

Ross said having 10 days off between games was tough on her team, and its first at-bats showed the time off.

“We did a poor job of a hitting for three innings,” Ross said. “Then we started to put together good at-bats and overall I think we did a good job of battling tonight.”

This is the closest Syracuse would come to taking the lead, as Virginia Tech would go on to score eight runs in the remaining three frames.

In that span, Ross turned to pitcher Jocelyn Cater, who transferred from the University of Washington and recently gained eligibility. Cater was roughed up for three runs in one and two-thirds innings, despite only giving up one hit.

Next in line was freshman pitcher Christina Clermont, who recorded one out but gave up a grand slam in the sixth inning that Ross said, “really took the wind out of our sails.”

The grand slam turned a two-run deficit into a six-run hole for SU, effectively putting the game out of reach.

Even in hindsight, Ross stands by her decision to remove her ace, O’Hara, from the game after four innings, even if it eventually led to the Hokies pulling away.

“You can’t really think about it like that, Ross said. “It’s the decision I made, we made as the coaching staff.

“You just have to hope from there everyone can do their job.”

Published on May 9, 2014 at 12:59 am

Contact Connor: [email protected] | @connorgrossman