Boston College’s explosive offensive performance downs Syracuse, 12-2

There was no doubt that Boston College’s Emme Martinez’s shot towards the foul pole had the distance. It was only a matter of whether it would stay fair. Once the ball bounced into the parking lot past left field, home plate umpire Chris Tehonica made his decision. Taking off his cap and waving it in the air in a circular motion, Tehonica signified that the hit was indeed a home run. Slumping her head and looking at the ground, Syracuse’s AnnaMarie Gatti signified that the game was over.

A walk to the next batter knocked Gatti out of the game, and replacement pitcher Miranda Hearn’s second pitch was promptly deposited into the very same parking lot. Boston College had hit as many home runs in the span of three batters as Syracuse had hit all season. The rout was on.

Syracuse (16-14, 4-7 Atlantic Coast) stayed with Boston College (15-15, 5-3 ACC) through the first three innings, but fell into a hole in the following three. After dropping its home opener 4-2 earlier in the day, the Orange failed to even take the lead during the second game of the doubleheader, eventually falling 12-2. Gatti didn’t allow many hard-hit balls to the Eagles, but was doomed by timely hits and control issues, leading to seven walks and two hit batters.

“She looked good in the first three innings, control, command was there,” head coach Mike Bosch said. “Just a little bit of a crack. They got a walk, got a base hit, things kind of snowballed.”

Boston College struck first against the senior, stringing together back-to-back hits in the top of the second after striking out twice to begin the frame. The Orange responded quickly, however, as a Neli Casares-Maher opposite-field single tied the game at one in the bottom half of the inning. A leadoff walk in the third started a minor rally for the Eagles, who used a stolen base to get into scoring position and score on a single through the right side of the infield.

The answer Syracuse had in the second inning wasn’t there in the third, and BC wasted no time in extending its lead in the following inning. Gatti looked poised to minimize the damage early in the fourth, allowing a base runner to get to third but tallying two outs in the process. An out would’ve gotten her out of the jam, but the righty instead walked the ensuing batter on four pitches. The walk was followed by two-straight RBI singles, a walk to load the bases and a second walk that drove in a run.

“I felt on,” Gatti said. “Baseball and softball are weird sometimes, even if you’re on, sometimes the other team can be just as on as you.”

Despite its deficit growing by three runs, the Orange wasn’t out of the game just yet. It bought a run back in the bottom of the fourth, thanks to another Casares-Maher RBI hit – this one off the top of the left field wall. That was all Syracuse managed in the frame, but the run at least stopped the momentum that had been growing on the Eagles’ side.

With a shutout inning defensively in the fifth, the Orange’s attempt to grab back the game’s momentum could continue in the home-half of the inning, down only three runs. But Gatti hit the first batter she saw. The next batter, Martinez, hit a ball 20 feet over the foul pole in left. Following the home run, catcher Michala Maciolek broke the huddle the infielders had gathered in with a pat on Gatti’s back with her glove.

The gesture of confidence did little for Gatti or the Orange, which found itself down 9-2 just two batters later. By that time, despite having three opportunities left to score, Syracuse was already out of the game. The team that had scored just two runs in the day’s first game was stuck at two runs in the second and wasn’t threatening to change that.

“It’s definitely tough to get back into it (after allowing so many runs),” Bryce Holmgren said. “It’s in those times that we have to simplify the game, and instead of looking for one big swing, for one pitch, just get one and pass the bat along.”

Instead, Holmgren said, SU chose to try to get back into the game individually as opposed to getting things going as a team. The Orange managed just one walk in the bottom of the fifth inning, and BC kept its offense rolling in the sixth. A bases-loaded single up the middle was misplayed into a bases-clearing hit the rolled to the wall, boosting the Eagles’ lead to 10.

Needing an eight-run advantage to evoke the mercy rule and end the game an inning early, Boston College had scored more than enough against Syracuse’s struggling offense. SU went down without a fight in the bottom of the sixth, and the Eagles won in six innings.

The Orange left seven runners on base to Boston College’s nine, but BC notched its hits when it needed them most.

“They just capitalized on moments that were crucial,” Gatti said. “We have that ability as well. They did it today and we can do it tomorrow.”