Alexa Romero fans 7 batters in 9-1 win over Notre Dame

With the bases loaded and two outs, Alexa Romero twisted her hips, brought her hands together above her head and delivered a 1-2 fastball on the outside corner of the plate.

“In that moment,” Romero said, “I was just like, ‘Let’s go at her.’”

Notre Dame’s MK Bonamy swung and tipped the pitch, but Syracuse catcher Gianna Carideo squeezed the foul ball for the final out of the third inning. Romero released a scream and pointed her glove toward her catcher before they high-fived and returned to the dugout.

After escaping the bases-loaded jam, Romero retired the next eight Notre Dame batters to stave off the Fighting Irish long enough for the SU offense to produce. Syracuse (13-18, 3-4 Atlantic Coast) fed off of Romero’s emotion in the circle and rallied to score seven runs in the sixth inning to run-rule Notre Dame (19-11, 3-4), 9-1.

“All we ask is that Lex (Romero) gives the offense a chance,” head coach Shannon Doepking said after calling Romero one of the best pitchers in the ACC.

Hitters didn’t even swing on three of Romero’s seven strikeouts. Romero locked up batters with her curveball, which moves toward right-handed hitters and away from lefties. To end the second inning, Romero got Payton Tidd to bite on an elevated rising fastball, another pitch she had command of, Romero and Carideo said.

Carideo caught all seven of Romero’s strikeouts, including the foul tip that stranded three base-runners in the third inning. Before that out, Romero allowed her only run of the game off an RBI single from Cait Brooks. At the time, SU had only one hit and trailed 1-0.

After several of Romero’s strikeouts, she screamed, which invigorated Syracuse at the plate. She yelled after striking out Katie Marino in the top of the fifth, and again the next inning.

“We see her heart and we want to reciprocate it for her,” third baseman Lailoni Mayfield (2-for-3, RBI) said.

Syracuse turned the motivation from Romero into runs. In the fifth inning, Alicia Hansen drove a line drive down the third base line to score Gabby Teran from first. SU took a 2-1 later in the inning when Hansen scored from third by blazing down the base path after a groundout to the pitcher.

“Basically,” first baseman Alex Acevedo said, “whenever we’re hitting, we know that we need to produce for Lex since she does so much for us.”

Pitching with a lead for the first time, Romero took care of the middle of Notre Dame’s lineup in the top of the sixth, fist-pumping after striking out Bonamy for a second time.

Then in the bottom of the sixth, Syracuse’s offense exploded for seven runs, which extended its lead to 9-1 and prematurely ended the game. Acevedo, Mayfield, Hansen and Gabby Teran all recorded RBIs.

By keeping Notre Dame off the base paths, Romero bought her team enough time to time up Fighting Irish’s pitchers, Doepking said. In total, Romero limited the Fighting Irish — who entered Friday’s game winning 13 of 16 of its previous games — to one run on four hits in six innings.

“I think what you got to see is a leader leading this program and stepping up until we could figure it out offensively,” Doepking said.