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Amongst Syracuse’s hot start to the season, Julianna Verni has emerged as a catalyst on its pitching staff. The junior has been responsible for several key victories for the Orange, and they’d never lost a game in a game she started heading into her start Saturday at No. 19 Stanford.

But that changed on Saturday. Despite Verni posting a complete game in the circle, Syracuse (16-5, 0-2 Atlantic Coast) struggled to capitalize on key scoring opportunities, falling 5-1 to Stanford (16-3, 2-0 Atlantic Coast). This marked Verni’s first loss of the season.

The game started off slow with neither team scoring in the first. Both starting pitchers shined in the frame. Verni notched two strikeouts while Stanford’s starter Alyssa Houston matched Verni, also adding two strikeouts of her own.

But the Cardinal got to Verni in the second. They scored three of their five runs in the inning and never looked back. After Stanford sophomore Jade Berry walked to open the inning, Joie Economides and Sydney Boulaphinh hit back-to-back singles, loading the bases with just one out.

Despite Verni getting Caelan Koch to pop out, that didn’t impact Stanford’s play. Verni then walked Taryn Kern, bringing Berry home for the first run of the game. Emily Jones followed with a single to shortstop, allowing both Economides and Boulaphinh to score, making it 3-0. The inning came to an end when Allie Clements grounded out to third base, but the damage had been done.

And Stanford wasn’t done there. With two outs in the bottom of the third, Economides blasted a home run to left field. The big fly marked her sixth of the season and brought the score to 4-0.

Syracuse earned its first and only run of the game in the top of the fourth inning. The bases were loaded by Kelly Breen, Angie Ramos and Madelyn Lopez with no outs. But all SU could muster was one run. Laila Morales-Alves hit a sacrifice fly to left field, bringing home Lopez.

But Stanford got the run right back. It scored again in the next frame when River Mahler hit a ground ball to first base. In an attempt at a double play, SU nabbed Mahler at first but couldn’t get Dani Hayes at home, allowing the Cardinal to push the score to 5-1.

SU’s defense stayed solid through the rest of the game. The bottom of the fifth was SU’s first clean inning of the game. The next inning followed with another strong performance by Verni as she notched her third strikeout of the game.

But despite the strong defensive effort, the Orange couldn’t push any runs across on offense. In SU’s last chance to score in the top of the seventh, Morales-Alves and Vanessa Flores reached base, but couldn’t score any runs.

With SU already dropping its first ACC series with the loss Saturday, it provides reason for concern. Its pitching was strong, but its hitting struggled mightily. Syracuse will have to improve its offense in order to compete in the conference.

Published on March 8, 2025 at 11:29 pm

Contact Vivian: vpcollins06@gmail.com