‘Great’ would probably not be at the top of the list of words describing the Syracuse softball team, especially its offense.

The Orange (0-13) has scored just 17 runs in 13 games, and the highest individual batting average on the team is .237 (by Rachel Tilford).

But associate head coach Kyle Jamieson is quick to bring up ‘great’ to describe the plays SU’s opponents make in the field.

‘Honestly if you look at everything, other teams are making great plays,’ Jamieson said. ‘Right now we haven’t had a lot of luck. I mean, this weekend there were probably six or seven hits in a normal game, but they took it away with a diving play.’

SU traveled to Columbus, Ga., for the NFCA Leadoff last weekend looking to break out its hitting woes and in the process snap a historic eight-game losing streak to start the season. But both the hitting struggles and winless record have continued after a five-loss weekend in which Syracuse scored six runs in five games.

Neither Syracuse head coach Leigh Ross nor SU players were made available for comment following the weekend.

On Friday morning, the Orange fell to North Carolina State, 2-0, and in the second half of the doubleheader lost to California-Santa Barbara, 8-1. The first day of the tournament Syracuse managed just six hits.

The Orange kicked off the second day with some signs of breaking out offensively, getting three hits in the first two innings against No. 18 Mississippi State. Jorden Rosen went 1-for-3, going deep with a two-run shot in the second inning, but Syracuse couldn’t muster a hit the rest of the game and lost, 8-2.

In the night cap the Orange had its best game offensively scoring three runs on seven hits. Even though it was the SU lineup’s best performance, Nebraska still easily beat the Orange, 8-3. Amy Kelley went 2-for-3 with a solo home run, and Hallie Gibbs had a two-run double in the fifth.

The Orange ended the weekend the same way it began, with a shutout. Auburn blanked SU, 6-0, despite the Tigers committing four errors. One bright spot from the game, Rachel Tilford, had two of SU’s four hits.

‘You can’t hide the numbers there and the stats,’ Jamieson said. ‘And I don’t think we as coaches would expect our highest hitter would be .230, but in the game of softball or baseball hitting is contagious, and we just need to get hot.’

That hasn’t happened yet for SU, which is averaging only 1.3 runs per game. In the first 13 games, SU has nine doubles and three home runs.

Syracuse went into the weekend hitting .176 as a team and left Georgia with that average dropping to .174. The hits aren’t coming, but that’s not because the Orange is swinging and missing.

On the season 16.7 percent of SU’s at bats have ended in a strikeout. During NFCA Leadoff, that number increased to 19.5 percent, but SU still forced its opponents to make plays to get outs. The other teams just keep making those plays.

‘Jaime Kelling, her average didn’t reflect how well she hit,’ Jamieson said. ‘You can’t see in the stats the amount of good plays they made on her. There were two or three line drives that they dove and caught.’

The strikeout numbers also may be leading to meager averages. Jamieson said sometimes concentrating on not striking out can lead to a bad swing on the ball. He would rather see a strikeout with a good swing than a ground out because of an off-balance swing.

‘There’s a fine line between (having) two strikes and a defensive swing and just getting the ball in play,’ Jamieson said. ‘Versus having two strikes and swinging hard and if you hit it, it has a chance to go in the gap or a home run.’

Jamieson has a simple answer to the team’s low run production though – more extra base hits.

‘We have to increase our extra base hits; it’s just a mathematical solution,’ Jamieson said. ‘The more extra base hits you get, the more runs you’ll score. That’s easy to figure out.’

mibonner@syr.edu

Published on March 3, 2008 at 12:00 pm