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On a cold February 2018 night in Palm Springs, California, sophomore Alexa Romero returned to the pitcher’s circle for the top of the fifth inning. Facing Sacramento State, Syracuse led 5-0 when Romero struck out Sydney Rasmussen, swinging to end the frame for Romero’s ninth strikeout of the game. When SU tacked on three more runs in the bottom half of the inning, the mercy rule was invoked, giving the Orange an 8-0 victory.

Romero’s parents, Larry and Andrea, were celebrating the win when another parent came up to them and said Romero had just pitched a perfect game. Neither had realized their daughter’s accomplishment — the second perfect game in program history and the first since 2000 — and Andrea said that Romero didn’t even know until after the game.

“She was proud, but she was more happy that it led to a win for the team than throwing a no-hitter or perfect game for herself,” former Syracuse pitcher Baylee Douglass said.

Over three years later, in the final month of her five-year career at SU, Romero has cemented herself in Syracuse’s record book. The Colorado native is ranked in the top five in 12 different pitching categories, including second in strikeouts, innings, starts and appearances. She threw four no-hitters in 2018, too. When Romero’s senior season came to an end on a tarmac, she quickly decided to return for a graduate season.

Graduating as the second-best pitcher ever at a power-five conference school was not always in the works for Romero. What stood out most from watching Romero in her early days was that “she was not very athletic at all,” Andrea said. Romero had been doing ballet but told her parents she wanted to try softball after watching her older brother, Jarrod, play Little League Baseball. She started playing with both hands, forcing her parents to buy one glove for each. After playing a game with both of them, she decided she wanted to play left-handed, Andrea said.

“I made sure she knew that (she was) a left-handed pitcher,” Larry said. “There’s not many of them out there … and I think that kind of drove her to keep playing softball.”

When she was 8 years old, Romero began attending weekly pitching lessons under Yvette Hendrian, who would eventually become her coach at Eaglecrest (Colo.) High School. Hendrian recalled sessions that had Romero in tears, unable to get the ball across the plate. Romero pitched every day in the backyard until she was exhausted, worked every night with the Jennie Finch Windmill she had in her room and constantly had a softball in her hand, her mother said. In high school, Romero spent extra days working with Eaglecrest assistant Joe Bruley, looking to one day become the team’s ace.

By high school, the hard work paid off. Romero typically pitched for 70% of the games she started, Hendrian said, and if she didn’t start, her coach always brought her in as a reliever. Over her four years at Eaglecrest, Romero totaled 269 strikeouts. Eaglecrest only won three games the season before her freshman year, but Romero led the team to four straight state championship appearances after her arrival.

Romero wanted to go to school somewhere warm, Andrea said. Even though Romero visited Syracuse on a typical snowy day, her connection with then-head coach Mike Bosch helped lead her to SU. Romero was very reserved, and she struggled once she got to Syracuse, Douglass said.

“I remember not being super impressed, to be honest,” Douglass said. “(I) could see some areas for improvement.”

Romero struggled specifically with her location. Douglass recalled one game in fall 2016 at Onondaga Community College where Romero missed so badly on a curveball that it hit a teammate in the dugout. “How do you miss that bad?” Douglass remembered asking.

Bosch always told Romero that she needed to strengthen her legs. After her freshman season, Romero focused mostly on lower-body lifting, her dad said. The results showed in Romero’s sophomore campaign. She led SU in every notable pitching category, and her 1.73 ERA was fourth in the ACC. But during summer 2018, after her sophomore season, Romero focused more on arm workouts and pitch location. Her ERA increased by nearly two runs, and she tossed 88 fewer strikeouts than she had the year prior.

“She saw the difference,” Larry said.

Alexa Romero has a season-high of 13 strikeouts which was against Buffalo April 6. Jordan Phelps | Staff Photographer

Going into this season, Romero wasn’t throwing the ball as much, Larry said. She was focusing on running and leg-lifting instead to help with her velocity. As a hard-throwing, strikeout pitcher, speed is especially important, head coach Shannon Doepking said April 18. Earlier this month at Boston College, Romero hit 70 mph, a speed equivalent to around 100 mph in baseball, and one she hadn’t hit before.

Before the 2020 season, Doepking wanted Romero to add an off-speed pitch to her arsenal, which eventually became the change-up that Romero has frequently gone to this season.

Former Syracuse pitcher Jenna Caira, the player whom Romero trails in several categories in the SU record book, is well-known for her deceptive change. Caira met Romero in March 2018, when she watched Romero strike out nine Virginia hitters in a complete-game performance. Romero’s presence in the circle and ability to throw her riseball for strikeouts, as well as the way she attacked the zone, all impressed Caira.

Caira was impressed that Romero worked to learn a new pitch in her final years at Syracuse, too. The integration of the new pitch — which has helped drop Romero’s ERA from a career-worst 3.69 in 2019 to 2.58 this season — has added to her already-decorated Syracuse career.

“I love that she’s incorporating a new pitch that maybe four years ago, she wasn’t fully comfortable with,” Caira said. “That says a lot about her.”

Despite having the opportunity to attend graduate school and help serve as an assistant coach at Loyola Marymount University this season, Romero returned to SU for a fifth year. She knew almost right away that she wanted to come back, Romero said in April 2020. She wanted to finish her Syracuse career “on her own terms,” Andrea said.

Beyond her nine-strikeout performance in the 2018 perfect game, or the dozens of other games where she’s recorded double-digit strikeouts, Romero has created a legacy that speaks for itself, her parents said. Her accomplishments, including her program record of 8.86 strikeouts per seven innings, will give Syracuse pitchers goals to work toward, Douglass said.

“She’s made a great name from a pitching standpoint for Syracuse,” Caira said. “Her name’s definitely going to be around for the long haul.”

Published on April 27, 2021 at 12:11 am

Contact Connor: [email protected] | @csmith17_