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In the third inning, after hitting a slow ground ball to the left side of the infield, Peyton Schemmer still found herself on base following an error from Virginia third baseman Shelby Barbee. Angie Ramos stepped up to the plate next and laced a single, Syracuse’s first hit of the game, moving Schemmer to second base.

With an opportunity to cut UVA’s two-run lead, Schemmer rocketed toward home while Madelyn Lopez hit a sacrifice fly-out to center field. Though Virginia later ended the inning with a double play, Schemmer’s run cut SU’s deficit in half.

But it turned out to be its only run. Following a 6-1 win over UVA just one day prior, Syracuse (13-10, 1-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) dropped game two against Virginia (16-9, 4-4 ACC) 2-1 in the second of a three-game series. The Orange received four shutout innings from receiving pitcher Julianna Verni, but they only recorded one hit on the day versus UVA pitchers Julia Cuozzo and Courtney Layne.

Entering the game, Syracuse had defeated Virginia in each of its last six meetings and boasted a 16-4 all-time advantage against the Cavaliers. Meanwhile, SU’s pitching had held opponents to under three runs six games in a row. The Orange continued to display complementary softball in their first game of the series on March 15, but they ran into a scoring drought in their second matchup with Virginia.

Jade Hylton opened up UVA’s offense in the bottom of the first, lacing a double to deep left field. Syracuse starting pitcher Lindsey Hendrix then struggled with her command and walked Bella Cabral. Abby Weaver perfected a sacrifice bunt, advancing Hylton to third and Cabral to second. But Syracuse infielder Kelly Breen snared two straight pop-outs right after to eliminate Virginia’s first-inning scoring chance.

SU couldn’t take advantage early, though, and were held scoreless through two innings. In the bottom of the second, Hendrix allowed a single to Reece Holbrook. Hendrix continued to have difficulty finding the strike zone and even when she threw strikes, her location was often in the middle of the zone. The struggles came back to bite Hendrix in the second, where she gave up a two-run home run from UVA’s Leah Boggs to put the Cavaliers up 2-0.

Syracuse opted to pull Hendrix for Verni for the remainder of the contest. And though the Orange started to claw back in after cutting Virginia’s lead to one in the third inning, they couldn’t muster a single hit from there. Virginia gave SU a couple of gifts, committing two errors, yet it mostly limited mistakes and took advantage of Syracuse’s batting issues.

The Cavaliers put Layne in the circle in the fifth inning after starting pitcher Cuozzo’s strong effort against the Orange. Layne retired Breen but hit Schemmer in the next at-bat, giving Syracuse a much-needed baserunner. Still, Layne fired back by striking out Ramos and forcing Jasso into a pop-out to the shortstop, ending the top of the fifth.

Even after walking Sarah Coon and throwing a wild pitch, Verni was unfazed in the circle. She shouldered the defensive responsibility and responded to Syracuse’s lack of run production, striking out Kelsey Hackett to hold UVA scoreless in the fifth.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Verni kept her momentum and struck out Boggs. But Verni couldn’t wrap the half-inning out quickly, as the next batter, Barbee, unleashed a double to left field. Verni then calmly handled Macee Eaton after Rebecca Clyde gloved a line drive at third base, and the Cavaliers failed to score in the sixth.

Down by one in the top of the seventh inning, Madison Knight and Breen sequentially made outs after launching high fly balls that were caught by Virginia’s outfielders. Schemmer was retired to seal SU’s loss as Layne didn’t allow a hit in each of her three innings of relief for UVA.

Published on March 16, 2024 at 7:59 pm