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Alexa Romero was at home in Aurora, Colorado, when she got the news. The NCAA had just announced spring athletes would receive an additional year of eligibility after cancelling seasons on March 12. Romero immediately went to tell her parents she was going to use the fifth year and return to lead Syracuse’s softball team for another season. Just 18 days after her season ended while sitting on a tarmac, Romero was already focused on 2021. 

“There was no doubt in my mind, not at all. No matter what, I was gonna come back,” Romero told The Daily Orange in April. “I’ve wanted this dream and I’m finishing it the way I want to finish it.”

By making the decision to return to SU, Romero rejected a graduate program at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, where she was in discussions with the head coach about a coaching position. Ultimately, however, a chance to continue playing for Syracuse won out. Romero enters the 2021 season, beginning Friday against Notre Dame, ranked top-5 in Syracuse history in 12 different pitching categories — she’s second all-time in strikeouts (661) and third in wins and shutouts (46 and 12, respectively).

Syracuse hasn’t had a winning season since 2018, and has only been above .500 in conference play once during Romero’s career. Back in high school, however, Romero helped turn around a losing team.

Eaglecrest High School (Colorado) only won three games the season before Romero’s freshman year. After she arrived, the school made four straight appearances in the state championship tournament, and she recorded 269 career strikeouts. Her quiet-yet-strong leadership ability stood out during her four years, her former coaches said.

When her high school teammates returned to the dugout after difficult at bats, Romero would go over and talk with them, according to former Eaglecrest softball coach Joe Bruley. The verbal exchanges weren’t always clear to the coaching staff, Bruley noted, but the player always returned to the field playing strong defense behind Romero.

“I have younger players who today still talk about her and how great her and that team that she played on during that time was,” said former Eaglecrest head coach Yvette Hendrian, who has coached Romero since she was 8 years old. “We mold our program after that whole culture that her and her freshman peers came in with.”

In Romero’s junior season, she earned 13 of Syracuse’s 21 wins. Last year she appeared in 14 of the Orange’s 20 games. Her workhorse mentality stems from her high school career, said Hendrian, who put Romero in for nearly every game, bringing her in for relief in games she didn’t start.

Keeping her current pace, Romero could appear — or even start — multiple times during a weekend series this season. With two of this season’s seven freshmen being pitchers, Romero’s veteran presence could help anchor the rotation, along with sophomore Kaia Oliver.

“(Romero) has had some really great years for us,” head coach Shannon Doepking said last spring. “She is still a very great pitcher and is going to be an important piece of the puzzle.”

Romero’s best friend and high school teammate Tayler Mashburn said she wasn’t at all surprised to hear Romero’s plans to return for a fifth year, despite her potential gig as a graduate head coach. She’s four starts away from the second-most all-time, and is taking her final chance to solidify herself in Syracuse’s record books.

“She’s going to dominate,” Mashburn said. “She’s not going to let off the gas at all.”

Assistant sports editor Allie Kaylor contributed reporting to this article.

Published on February 17, 2021 at 11:14 pm

Contact Connor: [email protected] | @csmith17_