Orangeyes
R.I.P Dan
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Friday evening I traveled up to the Syracuse Softball Complex at Skytop to check out the 2014 Orange squad. My seven year old granddaughter Bella was enthusiastic to see, what she perhaps considers, her second family. Isabella has been following the team for three years and has had quite a few instructional and fun interactions with players and coaches, both past and present.
If you've never been to the complex you don't know what you're missing. The field is beautiful, the grounds crew does a wonderful job of maintaining the rich Georgia clay infield and the lush rye grass outfield. Syracuse Big East 2011 and 2012 championship banners adorn the Orange & Blue bunting on the outfield fence. When they play under the lights everything is vivid and their tackle twilled uniforms just stand out beautifully.
Friday nights opponent was Herkimer County Community College last years JUCO national champions. The Generals had a 43-2 record. The Orange ladies had no trouble disposing of them. Nonetheless, it was a great opportunity to break in new players and reposition some of the veterans. In any SU sport it's always exciting to see the incoming class. Make no mistake, SU has an outstanding freshmen contingent. In fact at least three will have an immediate impact on the fortunes of this team as it enters the ACC for the first time.
In addition to the freshmen, another newcomer of impact is transfer Jocelyn Cater from Washington who is a native of Canada. Her pitching coach and former teammate on the Canadian National Team is Jen Caira, the two already have a great chemistry. When Jocelyn was 16 years old she & Jen teamed up in 2011 to defeat Team USA.
Under NCAA transfer rules for softball, Cater is eligible to play right away, with one proviso. At anytime in her career at Syracuse, if we ever face the Huskies, she will not be allowed to play. The NCAA allows schools to put conditions on softball transfers. Had Jocelyn transferred to a conference foe, she would have had to sit out one year.
This is her Washington Bio
Cater stands 5'11" is a left handed pitcher and a right handed batter. Since arriving at Syracuse her fastball been clocked at 68 MPH, that's the equivalent to a 96 MPH in baseball. Standing just 43 feet away from the batter and more like 35 after the release, her fastball is going to be hard to catch up to. Besides the fast stuff Cater has a devastating curve ball, one that comes at lefties like it's going to hit them and ends up past the outside corner. SU now has that front line, dominating pitcher they had in Jen Caira, only dominant in a different way. Caira had one of the nastiest change-ups in all of NCAA softball. If Jen can add that to Jocelyn Cater's arsenal, then she could end up an All-American like Caira.
The good news in pitching doesn't stop there. Two years ago a pitcher from San Marcos High School in San Diego, California pledged to the program. Her name is Christina Clermont and she has arrived and appears to be as good as advertised. She has a very smooth pitching motion and knows how to mixup her pitches. These girls play a lot of summer ball, all of that experience gets them ready for Division one play. Against Herkimer, Clermont threw three dominating innings. All she did was strikeout 8 of the nine batters she faced, the other one bounced back to her weakly.
Coming back for her junior season is Lindsay Taylor, who last year improved tremendously. In fact, by the 5th game of the season she took over as the number one pitcher moving past senior Stacy Kuwik who was Jen's backup the year before. A mid-season injury derailed Taylor's season and she was never quite as effective after that. By all accounts her injury is behind her and she looks like the pitcher she was before the injury.
SU now has three tough options in the circle and at least three other backups. One of those backups is freshman Sydney O' Hara a three time athlete of the year out of Cicero North Syracuse High School. O' Hara was also the Most Outstanding Player in New York State and the Gatorade Player of the Year. Sydney has been clocked at 64 MPH but the circle is not where she will be positioned. Her bat is too valuable and needs to be in the lineup everyday. Sydney will play outfield and probably bat 4th, 5th or 6th. Friday she was hit by a pitched ball, walked, hit a run producing triple and singled. She did pitch effectively but at this point is behind the first three pitchers mentioned.
Junior Mary Dombrowski from Delmar NY showed off the hard work she put in, in the off season by powering two balls over the fence and lacing another base hit.
Shirley Daniel's a senior from Georgia showed her speed on the bases after delivering base hits with her smooth, controlled swing.
With sensational short stop Morgan Nandin graduating, sophomre Corrine Ozanne moves over to her natural position from third. She has really gotten into great shape and thus far has made some outstanding plays. She had a lot of power last year, hope the weight loss hasn't affected that part of her game.
The catching position is up for grabs as one year starter Ashley Dimon has graduated. Not to worry, Coach Leigh Ross has gone out and recruited the number one catcher in Massachusetts, Nicole Lundstrom. Lunstrom was 1st team all state in 2013 and she looked poised handling the four different pictures SU used Friday.
SU has a walk-on outfielder from New Jersey who's considered one of the, if not the, fastest players on the team. I didn't get her name but she will fill in nicely as a pinch runner.
First baseman Jasmine Watson is back for her senior season. The 5'9" native of Irvine California and clean up hitter powered a two run homer early in the game. Jasmine hit the longest homerun in the history of Arizona State's stadium two years ago in the NCAA Regional's.
There are still a lot of former players both on the staff and in the stands. Morgan Nandin who is getting her graduate degree is a grad assistant. As mentioned before Jen Caira is the pitching coach. Lindsay Wasek is the Director of Operations.
Stephanie Watts, second baseman from that 2012 NCAA squad, is back from a stint of German softball. You might recall she hit the first inning homerun against Arizona State that held up after a sparkling defensive gem by Nandin in the 6th inning as SU upset the Sun Devils on their home turf, 1-0. Stephanie, a California native, has taken a job in Syracuse and was here to see her old team.
Another 2012 player, catcher Lacey Kohl, was there too. Lacey was kind enough to have a catch with my granddaughter Bella after the game and she threw her some ground balls. The SU girls are great with young fans, they make them feel special and welcome. Kohl's is now employed by SU in the athletic department.
Matt Nandin a former standout baseball player at LeMoyne and brother of Morgan, is now the batting instructor. He fills the position vacated by Wally King who took a softball job in California.
Friday night the weather was ideal for softball and there were a lot of fans in the stands. Among them were SU basketball star and McDonald's All American, Brianna Butler. She and several teammates are huge softball team supporters. The girls can be heard throughout the games backing their fellow student athletes. Baye Moussa Keita also regularly attends games.
SU & Herkimer played 10 innings and SU won 24-4. Those four runs all came in the 10th inning off SU's #6 pitcher.
Syracuse takes on Binghamton today at 2 PM at the stadium in a makeup game, weather provided.
In conclusion, I would say Syracuse's prospects for the 2014 season look real promising. I'm not sure they've ever had a three deep, and as strong a pitching rotation. I also understand Cater can handle the bat and can produce some power. The team speed looks good, I'd like to see the fielders challenged more than they were Friday before I make any conclusions on their fielding.
From what I'm understanding, SU will play in five tournaments on the road starting in February before heading home. I heard places such as Florida and Alabama mentioned. In the past, they have played five games per weekend so they'll have at least 25 games under their belt before playing at home.
If you've never been to the complex you don't know what you're missing. The field is beautiful, the grounds crew does a wonderful job of maintaining the rich Georgia clay infield and the lush rye grass outfield. Syracuse Big East 2011 and 2012 championship banners adorn the Orange & Blue bunting on the outfield fence. When they play under the lights everything is vivid and their tackle twilled uniforms just stand out beautifully.
Friday nights opponent was Herkimer County Community College last years JUCO national champions. The Generals had a 43-2 record. The Orange ladies had no trouble disposing of them. Nonetheless, it was a great opportunity to break in new players and reposition some of the veterans. In any SU sport it's always exciting to see the incoming class. Make no mistake, SU has an outstanding freshmen contingent. In fact at least three will have an immediate impact on the fortunes of this team as it enters the ACC for the first time.
In addition to the freshmen, another newcomer of impact is transfer Jocelyn Cater from Washington who is a native of Canada. Her pitching coach and former teammate on the Canadian National Team is Jen Caira, the two already have a great chemistry. When Jocelyn was 16 years old she & Jen teamed up in 2011 to defeat Team USA.
Under NCAA transfer rules for softball, Cater is eligible to play right away, with one proviso. At anytime in her career at Syracuse, if we ever face the Huskies, she will not be allowed to play. The NCAA allows schools to put conditions on softball transfers. Had Jocelyn transferred to a conference foe, she would have had to sit out one year.
This is her Washington Bio
Cater stands 5'11" is a left handed pitcher and a right handed batter. Since arriving at Syracuse her fastball been clocked at 68 MPH, that's the equivalent to a 96 MPH in baseball. Standing just 43 feet away from the batter and more like 35 after the release, her fastball is going to be hard to catch up to. Besides the fast stuff Cater has a devastating curve ball, one that comes at lefties like it's going to hit them and ends up past the outside corner. SU now has that front line, dominating pitcher they had in Jen Caira, only dominant in a different way. Caira had one of the nastiest change-ups in all of NCAA softball. If Jen can add that to Jocelyn Cater's arsenal, then she could end up an All-American like Caira.
The good news in pitching doesn't stop there. Two years ago a pitcher from San Marcos High School in San Diego, California pledged to the program. Her name is Christina Clermont and she has arrived and appears to be as good as advertised. She has a very smooth pitching motion and knows how to mixup her pitches. These girls play a lot of summer ball, all of that experience gets them ready for Division one play. Against Herkimer, Clermont threw three dominating innings. All she did was strikeout 8 of the nine batters she faced, the other one bounced back to her weakly.
Coming back for her junior season is Lindsay Taylor, who last year improved tremendously. In fact, by the 5th game of the season she took over as the number one pitcher moving past senior Stacy Kuwik who was Jen's backup the year before. A mid-season injury derailed Taylor's season and she was never quite as effective after that. By all accounts her injury is behind her and she looks like the pitcher she was before the injury.
SU now has three tough options in the circle and at least three other backups. One of those backups is freshman Sydney O' Hara a three time athlete of the year out of Cicero North Syracuse High School. O' Hara was also the Most Outstanding Player in New York State and the Gatorade Player of the Year. Sydney has been clocked at 64 MPH but the circle is not where she will be positioned. Her bat is too valuable and needs to be in the lineup everyday. Sydney will play outfield and probably bat 4th, 5th or 6th. Friday she was hit by a pitched ball, walked, hit a run producing triple and singled. She did pitch effectively but at this point is behind the first three pitchers mentioned.
Junior Mary Dombrowski from Delmar NY showed off the hard work she put in, in the off season by powering two balls over the fence and lacing another base hit.
Shirley Daniel's a senior from Georgia showed her speed on the bases after delivering base hits with her smooth, controlled swing.
With sensational short stop Morgan Nandin graduating, sophomre Corrine Ozanne moves over to her natural position from third. She has really gotten into great shape and thus far has made some outstanding plays. She had a lot of power last year, hope the weight loss hasn't affected that part of her game.
The catching position is up for grabs as one year starter Ashley Dimon has graduated. Not to worry, Coach Leigh Ross has gone out and recruited the number one catcher in Massachusetts, Nicole Lundstrom. Lunstrom was 1st team all state in 2013 and she looked poised handling the four different pictures SU used Friday.
SU has a walk-on outfielder from New Jersey who's considered one of the, if not the, fastest players on the team. I didn't get her name but she will fill in nicely as a pinch runner.
First baseman Jasmine Watson is back for her senior season. The 5'9" native of Irvine California and clean up hitter powered a two run homer early in the game. Jasmine hit the longest homerun in the history of Arizona State's stadium two years ago in the NCAA Regional's.
There are still a lot of former players both on the staff and in the stands. Morgan Nandin who is getting her graduate degree is a grad assistant. As mentioned before Jen Caira is the pitching coach. Lindsay Wasek is the Director of Operations.
Stephanie Watts, second baseman from that 2012 NCAA squad, is back from a stint of German softball. You might recall she hit the first inning homerun against Arizona State that held up after a sparkling defensive gem by Nandin in the 6th inning as SU upset the Sun Devils on their home turf, 1-0. Stephanie, a California native, has taken a job in Syracuse and was here to see her old team.
Another 2012 player, catcher Lacey Kohl, was there too. Lacey was kind enough to have a catch with my granddaughter Bella after the game and she threw her some ground balls. The SU girls are great with young fans, they make them feel special and welcome. Kohl's is now employed by SU in the athletic department.
Matt Nandin a former standout baseball player at LeMoyne and brother of Morgan, is now the batting instructor. He fills the position vacated by Wally King who took a softball job in California.
Friday night the weather was ideal for softball and there were a lot of fans in the stands. Among them were SU basketball star and McDonald's All American, Brianna Butler. She and several teammates are huge softball team supporters. The girls can be heard throughout the games backing their fellow student athletes. Baye Moussa Keita also regularly attends games.
SU & Herkimer played 10 innings and SU won 24-4. Those four runs all came in the 10th inning off SU's #6 pitcher.
Syracuse takes on Binghamton today at 2 PM at the stadium in a makeup game, weather provided.
In conclusion, I would say Syracuse's prospects for the 2014 season look real promising. I'm not sure they've ever had a three deep, and as strong a pitching rotation. I also understand Cater can handle the bat and can produce some power. The team speed looks good, I'd like to see the fielders challenged more than they were Friday before I make any conclusions on their fielding.
From what I'm understanding, SU will play in five tournaments on the road starting in February before heading home. I heard places such as Florida and Alabama mentioned. In the past, they have played five games per weekend so they'll have at least 25 games under their belt before playing at home.
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