Going into its home opener against Binghamton, Syracuse head coach Leigh Ross could sense her team’s lack of confidence. After being swept this weekend at Notre Dame and DePaul, and scoring just five runs in four games, Ross could tell her hitters were uncomfortable in the batter’s box.

Luckily for the Orange, increased plate discipline combined with some early miscues by Binghamton opened the door for the SU offense to get back on track.

The same Syracuse bats that were silenced over the weekend unleashed on the Bearcats Tuesday at Syracuse Softball Stadium. The Orange swept Binghamton – winning, 12-0, in five innings in the opener and managing a 4-0 win in the second game.

‘When you face a strong pitcher like DePaul’s pitcher or Notre Dame’s pitcher, it knocks your confidence,’ Ross said. ‘For them to just get some strong hits, some solid hits early on, you can see that confidence start to build up.’

It was the Bearcats (4-14) who provided SU (12-24) with the spark the Orange needed to get its bats on track. SU took advantage of four first-inning walks by Binghamton hurler Nicole Constantatos to jump out to a 3-0 lead. The inning’s lone hit came from sophomore first baseman Heather Kim, who knocked in the first two runs of the game with a double to right field.

The early lead was a welcome chance for the Orange, which has routinely fallen behind this season.

‘It boosted our confidence,’ second baseman Lindsay Wasek said. ‘Once you see your one, two, three hitters getting on base immediately, you get the confidence and you’re ready to go up there and get your swings.’

The SU barrage didn’t let up for the remainder of the contest. A solo home run from senior third baseman Erin Gray jump-started a six-run third inning that was capped off by a majestic grand slam by junior outfielder Rachel Tilford that dropped just out of the reach of Bearcats leftfielder Stephanie Woodcock.

Tilford’s grand slam, her first at Syracuse and her fifth round-tripper of the season, gave SU an 11-0 third-inning lead. She finished the afternoon 2-for-4 with five RBIs, giving her a team-leading 25 on the season.

Tilford said she took to heart her coach’s pregame advice to relax at the plate and not try to do too much.

‘We try to do everything from at-bat to at-bat instead of just taking it pitch to pitch, me especially,’ Tilford said. ‘I get into my head too much, thinking I need to carry the team instead of just letting the bat do the work.’

After the game, Ross praised the production Tilford has bought to the cleanup spot for the Orange this season.

‘Rachel has such a power hitter attitude,’ Ross said. ‘She’ll go up and swing out of her shoes and I love it. She knows when she isn’t watching the ball but she still is putting that good hard swing on it, because she’s in the four-hole and that’s her job.’

Syracuse seemed to go into cruise control for the rest of the afternoon, manufacturing four runs in the second game of the doubleheader. The big blow of the game came in the fourth when Wasek lined an opposite field home run off the top of the right field fence. It was the first collegiate homer for the sophomore.

Lost in the Orange offensive barrage were fine pitching performances by freshman Brittany Gardner and junior Chanel Roehner. Gardner allowed just one hit in her five-inning shutout of the Bearcats in the opener, while Roehner let up just two hits in the day’s finale.

‘We came out and we had good pitching, Brittany pitched well and she set the tone for the defense,’ Ross said. ‘When we start doing that, we start to feel more confident about ourselves, like we don’t have to push for more runs when we’re up.’

That confidence was apparent among the SU players and coaches in the wake of its dominating performance. It is one they hope will translate to the rest of the Big East schedule.

‘These type of games where we play this well, it just reminds us what we’re capable of,’ Wasek said. ‘We have to take this into the Big East and know what we can do to teams.’

Published on April 3, 2007 at 12:00 pm