In the bottom of the seventh inning against Duke on Saturday, with Gianna Carideo on first and no one out, Jessica Skladal wasted a chance to jolt a comeback.

Instead, Skladal’s slap-hitting style failed her. She couldn’t move the tying run into scoring position for the top of the lineup and struck out swinging on five pitches. Syracuse’s rally never sparked and it lost, 3-2, in game two of the doubleheader.

During the weekend’s three-game series against Duke, Skladal went 1-for-9 with four strikeouts to drop her batting average to .218, the worst mark of SU hitters with more than 50 at-bats. Meanwhile, several injuries have thinned Syracuse’s outfield depth and have expanded Skladal’s role. Despite her slump at the plate, Skladal’s speed makes her reliable as a rotational outfielder for Syracuse (18-23, 7-8 Atlantic Coast).

“So often,” senior right fielder Bryce Holmgren said, “freshmen get in their own heads or get in their own way, and I just remind (Skladal) that this is the same game that she’s played her whole life. It might be on a bigger stage, but the game hasn’t changed.”

As a slap-hitter, Skladal tries to make up for her lack of power with her speed. She swings and leaves the batter’s box simultaneously to beat out soft hits in the infield. Eight of her 12 hits on the season have been infield singles or bunts.

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But through February and March, the outfielder went 10 games without a hit. She later bounced back, though, with a three-game hitting streak and a 3-for-4 performance on April 6 in a 5-2 win over North Carolina State.

Last Friday against Duke, Skladal barreled an outside fastball and whacked it over the shortstop’s outstretched glove. The knock established a two-game hitting streak, which ended the next day.

Following Sunday’s 3-2 loss to Duke, some teammates frustratedly mimicked Skladal’s slap-hitting approach in a 20-minute team meeting in left field.

“Not letting failure get to you,” Skaladal said of the biggest challenge she’s faced this year. “You still know you’re good, but you just have to accept that you’re not always going to be 100% on. You just have to work through that.”

Despite her struggles at the plate, Syracuse needs Skladal now more than ever. An early-season leg injury to Neli Casares-Maher moved starting centerfielder Alicia Hansen to shortstop. Martin shifted from left to center, which displaced Lailoni Mayfield from third base to left. But an undisclosed injury to third baseman Hannah Dossett forced Mayfield back to third.

Then, last Friday, Martin exited with an apparent hand injury, moving Skladal from left to center for the final two games against the Blue Devils.

The flux in the outfield has demanded an extra focus on chemistry, Holmgren said. With every new outfield trio, each fielder has to learn how much ground their teammates can cover and when to call someone off a fly ball. Skladal is quieter and less experienced than Hansen and Martin, but she’s just as speedy, Holmgren said.

A lack of continuity in the outfield can lead to more mistakes, raising the importance of communication. Developing chemistry and comfortability between the outfielders is the next step to patching together a sustainable outfield.

“I think I just need to be a little louder in the next few games,” Skladal said after a recent practice.

Skladal hasn’t made an error all season. Skladal played centerfield in travel ball and in high school, she said, so the position is familiar to her. In her most-recent game against Colgate, Skladal went 1-for-3 with two putouts in left field. She demonstrated her versatility, but also left two runners on base in her at-bats.

“Yes, I’ve had ups and downs, but I feel like I’ve gotten better as the season has gone.”

— Asst. Copy Editor Anthony Dabbundo contributed reporting to this story.

Published on April 17, 2019 at 10:12 pm

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