If something happens once, it’s a fluke. Twice and it’s probably a trend, but in the case of Syracuse softball, if history repeats itself four times it’s tradition.

Four of the last five seasons, the Orange has started the season 0-4, including this year.

‘It’s been kind of a tradition to start slow,’ senior Chanel Roehner said. ‘And by Big East, we’re ready to go.’

It’s a combination of factors that contribute to the reason why Syracuse needs to regroup after the opening tournament. A mixture of opening day jitters, rust and highly ranked opponents has equated to a 3-19 record in opening tournaments the last five years. Syracuse has always managed to bounce back, though, in its second tournament of the season. In the previous four seasons, Syracuse is 12-7 in its second tournament and looks to continue that tradition this weekend in Greenville, N.C at the Pirate Classic. The Orange will kick its weekend off with a doubleheader on Friday. Syracuse faces Appalachian State in the morning and will play East Carolina in the afternoon. The Orange will then look for revenge Sunday against Purdue. SU faced the Boilermakers last weekend in Texas and played its worst game of the young season, accumulating two hits and committing five errors in a 10-0 loss.

Walks have been giving the Orange the most problems early in the season. Since 2004, in the first tournaments of the year SU has walked 106 batters in only 22 games.

‘The walks kill us,’ Roehner said. ‘If we could just get rid of the walk I think we would do a lot better.’

Cutting down on free passes is something associate head coach and pitching coach Kyle Jamieson is working on with his pitchers, especially after another shaky start. Jamieson credited a lot of the walks from the past weekend to falling behind in counts. This week he tweaked his approach with pitchers.

Usually his players will step to the mound in practice with the count 0-0. This week the counts will be 2-0, 2-1 or 3-1 in order to force the pitcher to throw a strike.

The walk problem may stem from the practices. Jamieson said the Dome is a great facility to have, but when other teams have the chance to play on dirt, it’s a decisive advantage.

‘I think if you’re doing your bullpen (sessions) outside it’s just a more game-like atmosphere,’ Jamieson said. ‘We’re still able to work on fundamentals and mechanics, but there’s something to be said about playing on the actual surface that you play. You don’t practice ice hockey on cement.’

Pitcher Brittany Gardner had her cleats sink in the dirt for the first time last weekend and accounted for 15 of her team’s 20 walks. The sophomore walked 108 batters in 186.0 innings last season, but said there was no excuse for why she is on pace to eclipse that mark this year.

‘That’s one aspect of the game I’ve made a goal to change, just to cut back on walks,’ Gardner said. ‘And the first weekend I’m already on pace to continue to have the same amount of walks I had last season, but that has nothing to do with the field.’

The pitchers and their coach agreed nerves and tough competition also inflated the number of walks. Throughout the span five years in which the Orange has stumbled out of gate, SU has faced teams in the top 25 rankings in half its games (11 of 22).

Jamieson said when a team falls behind early against good opponents, an even greater burden is transferred onto the pitcher’s shoulders. But he said the tough schedule is part of something larger.

‘We built the schedule, and we could’ve went into a tournament with smaller schools, but we went after (No. 7) Baylor and Purdue,’ Jamieson said. ‘…In the long run when we are playing DePaul, our pitchers have faced good hitters, they haven’t dominated weak hitters.’

mibonner@syr.edu

Published on February 21, 2008 at 12:00 pm