SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Syracuse Softball (27-20, 6-16 ACC) lost their first game in a home series against the University of California, Berkeley (33-18,9-13) 7-0.
The Orange came out of the gate hard. Pitcher Madison Knight struck out the first Cal batter looking, and the defense made quick work of the 2nd and 3rd outs.
Syracuse’s most consistent hitter, Madelyn Lopez started off the first inning with a line drive into right field to get the Orange on base. She was moved to second by a sacrifice bunt from Jadyn Burney, but Lopez would be tagged out trying to run home on a short hit to center field by Vanessa Flores.
This is the closest Syracuse came to scoring the entire game.
The Orange held their opponents for another inning, but Cal came back in the third, driving in four runs on five hits.
Syracuse tried to fight back. The Orange consistently made contact off of both of Cal’s pitchers but were never able to get the hits they needed.
The Orange weren’t able to hold Cal on defense, either.
Knight appeared to struggle in the 5th and 6th innings. She gave up one home run in the fifth and another in the sixth, where she also walked two batters and hit another, allowing Cal to score their 7th and final run.
Knight did strike out the last batter in the 6th inning and came back strong in the 7th – getting another strikeout and allowing no more hits.
But Cal was able to get their three final outs before Syracuse could make any kind of comeback.
With two games left in this series, Syracuse will try to fight back and possibly secure their place in the ACC Championship on May 8th. They will play two more games against Cal on May 3rd and 4th at Skytop Softball Stadium here in Syracuse.