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Louisville loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the sixth inning and a 4-0 lead.

Taylor Roby stood in the batters box ready to swing away. With a 3-1 count, Roby waited for Kaia Oliver to deliver. She threw an elevated fastball that Roby drove to dead center field. Roby roped the ball into the outfield with a low trajectory, but the ball barely cleared the wall. The designated hitter’s second home run of the game and third on the day gave Louisville an 8-0 lead over Syracuse.

Over the course of two games, Louisville’s timely hitting was too much for Syracuse to overcome. Roby caused Syracuse problems in both games, as the Orange struggled to deal with her power hitting. She finished with eight RBI’s on the day as Louisville (24-10, 9-2 ACC) stayed hot (10-17-1, 1-9-1 ACC), defeating the Orange 5-3 and 8-0.

“We knew coming in Louisville was a team that hammered the ball and we couldn’t avoid that today, tomorrow we’ll just have to improve,” said Madelyn Lopez.

Roby’s 13th long ball of the season forced Syracuse into a must-score situation heading into the bottom of the sixth. Lopez led off the inning, but shortstop Daisy Hess made a routine play on the ground ball. Ryan Gallegos went down on strikes before Kelly Breen drew a walk, but Angel Jasso struck out as the Orange were mercy-ruled.

Louisville wasted no time getting out in front in the second game with its power hitting. In the first inning, Roby stepped up to face freshman Madison Knight. Knight got the first two batters out, but ran into trouble after walking Sarah Gordon. Roby blasted a ball to deep right center field, landing over the netting in the outfield. Roby’s two-run shot gave Louisville a quick advantage that would only grow.

“She’s really good, we knew that coming in,” Syracuse head coach Shannon Doepking said to CitrusTV postgame. “We knew she was going to be an issue. I told our pitchers, like, I don’t really care about solo shots. It’s the walks before the home runs that are killing us.”

On the flip side, Syracuse struggled to hit Alyssa Zabala, who pitched five innings and allowed just one hit. SU’s lone hit came in the bottom of the fourth when Tess Galipeau poked a ball through the right side of the infield. Nothing came of the inning with Knight grounding out in the ensuing at-bat.

Syracuse rarely got runners on base, let alone in scoring position. Doepking described the hitting as “terrible,” and said the Orange struggled with timing throughout the game, an issue that’s been prevalent throughout the season.

Before Syracuse got its first hit of game two, Louisville once again showed its power. Vanessa Miller led off the top of the fourth with a single into center field – Trinity Nichols tried backhanding the ball, but it fell out of her glove. Miller was called out a couple pitches later for leaving too early on a steal when Korbe Otis was up to bat. Otis drew a walk, bringing up Sarah Gordon. With a 2-2 count, Knight left a ball high in the zone and Gordon turned on it, driving the ball to left field for a line drive home run, putting Louisville up 4-0.

“They’re a great hitting team,” Doepking said. “I think it was just a complete lack of competitiveness on our end of finding some sense of fight in us.”

Knight had 143 pitches over five and one third innings, allowing six earned runs on five hits before SU turned to Oliver in relief. Zabala retired three straight batters in the fifth inning before Gabby Holloway closed things out in the sixth, only facing four batters.

Much like the second game, the Cardinals dominated game one.

Lindsay Hendrix got through the first inning, mowing down the first three Louisville hitters, but started to struggle in the second inning. Roby ripped a ball into the gap in left field for a standup double to lead off the inning. Makayla Hurst drew a walk two batters later putting runners on first and second with one out. Easton Lotus slapped a ball to shortstop which was picked up by Kelly Breen.

Breen tried to flip it to Nichols at second base, but it was off-target, allowing a run to score to give Louisville a 1-0 lead. Hendrix got out of the jam by getting the next two batters out, but was right back in a jam in the bottom of the third.

Otis grounded one through the left side of the infield for a leadoff single before advancing to second on a past ball. In the ensuing at-bat, Gordon ripped one past Hendrix up the middle, as the ball hit second base and popped into the outfield, helping Louisville double its advantage.

Syracuse got its first base runner when Laila Alvez drew a walk in the bottom half, but Rebecca Clyde grounded the next pitch into an inning-ending double play. SU’s first hit didn’t come until the bottom of the fourth, when Lopez roped a ball down the firs- base line, past Hannah File and to the wall. Lopez made it to third for Syracuse’s first triple of the season. Breen hit one right to File, who made a throw home with Lopez darting towards the plate, and Gordon applied the tag for an easy out.

Louisville took advantage of the shortcoming. Roby launched a ball to right center field, recording her first of three home runs on the day to put the Cardinals up 3-0. Lotus singled later in the inning with a man on second to extend the advantage to four.

The Orange’s only offense of the day came in the bottom of the fifth. Galipeau ripped a ball into left field to start the inning before an infield hit from Nichols put runners on first and second. A sacrifice bunt from Alvez had two runners in scoring position.

Then, Clyde chopped the ball over Roby’s head into center field, scoring Nichols and Kate Dorazio. Roby darted for second, drawing a throw from Gordon which got by Hess, Lotus and Otis and allowed for a little league homerun.

The hit and ensuing errors would be the Orange’s only source of offense across both games. After scoring three runs in the one play, Syracuse would get one base runner the rest of the game before Louisville added a late insurance run.

Published on April 1, 2023 at 10:26 pm

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