Softball

Syracuse uses 7 home runs to power doubleheader sweep of Virginia

Corinne Ozanne bat-flipped.

“Yeah, I pimped it a little bit,” she said. “If you know it’s gone…then you better let everyone else know it’s gone, too.”

Ozanne had just crushed the pitch to left-center field in the fourth inning, the ball clearing the netting and one of the trees beyond the outfield wall.

As Ozanne jumped on home plate, she gave her team a one-run lead it wouldn’t relinquish and received pounds on the helmet from teammates.

Syracuse (19-26, 3-13 Atlantic Coast) exploded offensively Saturday at SU Softball Stadium, hitting seven home runs while pushing 21 runs across the plate total in two wins over Virginia (16-39, 4-19). Ozanne’s home run was the team’s third of game two and her first of two homers on the afternoon. The Orange defeated the Cavaliers 7-4 in game one and 14-9 in game two.



“(Hitting) is contagious,” SU head coach Leigh Ross said. “I know it sounds cliché, but it’s true.”

The Orange began game two by hitting. In the top of the first, center fielder Maddi Doane lined a shot through the right-side hole, and Ozanne got hit by a pitch. With two out and two on, catcher Julie Wambold emphatically opened the scoring with a blast to right-center field which hit the top of the netting.

First baseman Sydney O’Hara made an error in the top of the third, which extended the inning and allowed Virginia to tie the game.

“Coach always says, ‘Let the mistakes go and stay positive,’” O’Hara said. “I knew I messed up…It’s going to happen, so I focused on my at bat.”

O’Hara came right back and righted her mistake in the bottom of the frame by smashing a two-run single through the right side, giving the Orange a 5-3 advantage.

But after SU squandered a bases loaded opportunity in the bottom of the third inning, Orange pitcher Lindsey Larkin gave Virginia its first lead, a 7-5 advantage in the fourth. It only served as a prelude to Ozanne’s “pimped” home run and another homer from Doane.

“(Doane) came unglued on that swing,” Ross said. “Everyone swings more freely (when you’re hitting). It’s helpful.”

In the bottom of the fifth, the homers kept coming.

Third baseman Danielle Chitkowski hit a home run which cleared the net and the trees beyond the outfield wall. The Virginia center fielder chased the ball for two steps, then stopped and watched as it sailed out of sight.

Later that inning, Doane crushed a 1-0 pitch deep to right field. She high-fived Ross rounding third, pumped her fist and jumped into a mob of teammates at home plate.

After a Sammy Fernandez single, Ozanne walloped a 3-2 pitch for a home run deep to center field. The ball hit the netting beyond the outfield fence three seconds after it was hit.

A slugfest had turned into a blowout.

“It’s wonderful to see (everyone hitting),” Ozanne said. “We’re just hitting the ball and putting runs on the board.”





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