Softball

Syracuse pitching tosses 2 shutouts in doubleheader sweep over Niagara

AnnaMarie Gatti swiped her right foot through the dirt.

She had walked a hitter on four pitches and just thrown a first-pitch ball to the next batter.

Assistant coach Mike Bosch came out to the mound for a visit. Bosch told her to look at the scoreboard and trust her defense. Gatti walked to the back of the circle and toed the rubber.

The hitter lined Gatti’s 1-0 offering into center field, where Mary Dombrowski picked it up on a hop. Dombrowski saw the runner trying to score from second and gunned the ball towards home plate. Catcher Julie Wambold blocked the plate and turned, moments before the runner bowled her over, sending Wambold sprawling into the dirt. But she hung on to the ball and the umpire signaled out.

Gatti had flown through the first two innings, allowing only one baserunner. Though she struggled in the third, her defense picked her up.



“I settled in and calmed down,” she said. “There’s no pressure because we were up and they didn’t have any runs.”

Syracuse (17-22, 1-10 Atlantic Coast) defeated Niagara (1-27, 1-9 Metro Atlantic Athletic) in both games of a doubleheader on Wednesday afternoon at SU Softball Stadium. The Orange pitching didn’t allow a run, and the SU offense mercy-ruled in both games, 11-0 and 13-0, respectively.

Gatti made her third collegiate start after returning from injury in the second game and Sydney O’Hara came in for the final three outs.

“Anna… didn’t have the speed she’ll build back up to,” Syracuse head coach Leigh Ross said. “But she learned today that if you just spin the ball right and put it right where you want to, then hitters will get themselves out.”

The first batter of the game worked a 3-0 count before rolling over on a ball grounded weakly to second base. It took Gatti four pitches to induce two groundouts to third.

She got two more groundouts in the second inning, walked a batter on four pitches and a popout to third base in foul ground ended the inning.

After walking a batter in the third inning and allowing the hit that Dombrowski made her strong throw on, she induced a groundout to end the inning.

“My drop curve worked pretty well,” Gatti said. “… But knowing that I can hit (that spot) now is helping. Knowing that I’m getting ground balls is also good for my confidence.”

Gatti allowed a leadoff double to begin the fourth, but stifled any potential damage with a strikeout and a groundout. Second baseman Sammy Fernandez charged a weak grounder and flipped the ball to first for a close out to end the inning.

O’Hara struck out the side in the fifth, making Wambold’s mitt pop the loudest it had all afternoon.

After three swings-and-misses, the last Niagara batter walked back to the dugout.

“We did a great job of playing our game and pulling things together,” Ross said. “We had some good, solid pitching performances.”





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