Softball sweeps double header from Villanova

Syracuse kept their small winning streak alive as they won both games in a double header against Villanova. Despite an early rain delay, the umpires were able to squeeze in both games. For Syracuse (28-10, 7-5) both wins put their Big East record two games over .500 while Villanova (15-25-1, 2-11) continued to flounder in conference play as they lost both their tenth and eleventh in Big East play.

Game one was highlighted by the phenomenal pitching of ace Jenna Caira. She ended up striking out nine batters and allowed only two hits. The first base runners of the game for the Wildcats didn’t come until the fifth inning. Caira bore down, and struck out the next batter to end the inning.

SU came up to the plate in the bottom half of the inning and put the first runs up on the board. The inning started off when Stephanie Watts hit a single, followed by another single by catcher Lacey Kohl. This gave SU runners on first and third and they took advantage by scoring off of an errant throw by Villanova’s staring catcher, Amanda Marquez.

Syracuse doubled its lead in the sixth inning when freshman Jasmine Watson launched a solo home run over the leftfield wall. In the top half of the seventh inning the Wildcats made one final attempt to score a run as they got a runner in scoring position with two outs but were unable to capitalize as Caira struck out the final batter.

The second game wasn’t as low scoring as the first game because of the extra base hits of the Syracuse squad. They had a total of nine, four of which were home runs. SU didn’t wait to score in this game as they did in the game pervious; they scored a total of nine runs within the first three innings.

First baseman Kelly Saco, Watts and Watson all had home runs in the first three innings. Within this span Lisaria Daniels had two RBI’s off of a first inning double and third inning single. Hallie Gibbs chipped in as well as she hit a double that brought in a run in the first inning. This was all that Caira would need as she cruised until the fourth inning, when she let up one run.

Syracuse squashed all hopes of a comeback when Watson hit a solo home run in the bottom half of the inning. The home run was third of the day for the freshman. Stacy Kuwik came on to pitch the final inning and finished strong, as she had two strikeouts in her one inning of work. Syracuse has one game tomorrow afternoon at their home field.