Corrections: In a previous version of this article, the number of weeks since Sydney O’Hara was acclaimed by the NCAA as the best player was misstated. O’Hara was acclaimed as the best player four weeks ago. In the same article, the place Nicole Lundstorm bats was misstated. Lundstorm hits .376 in three hole. Also in the same article, O’Hara’s National Player of the Week title was misstated. O’Hara has already won  Louisville Slugger/ NFCA Division I National Player of the Week. The Daily Orange regrets these errors. 

Syracuse has been anchored this year by an ace acclaimed by the NCAA as the best player two weeks ago, a catcher hitting .376 in two hole and an outfielder — recruited as a catcher — hitting .339 in the nine-hole. All freshmen.

Sydney O’Hara, the team’s ace, Nicole Lundstrom, the reliable catcher, and Alyssa Dewes, the speedy outfielder, will all be in the starting lineup as Syracuse (18-18, 9-7 Atlantic Coast) gears up for a doubleheader against Boston College (22-17, 6-9) on Wednesday at SU Softball Stadium. The trio leads a group of seven freshmen — also including Christina Clermont behind O’Hara — that has keyed the Orange’s season thus far.

SU head coach Leigh Ross knew she was taking a risk. But her trust in her young core has paid dividends this season.

“You have to go through things as a freshman,” Ross said. “Catching a ride at 5:30 a.m. to make 6 a.m. workouts or learning how to get college hitters out.

“They’ve all done real well.”

It’s difficult to look at Syracuse’s freshman class as a group when it’s led by one of the best college players in the country.

O’Hara just claimed her second ACC Player of the Week award of the season, and has already won Louisville Slugger/ NFCA Division I National Player of the Week.

In her last five games, she’s 9-for-18 with seven RBIs, and also threw a complete game in a 5-2 win over Pittsburgh on Saturday.

Then there’s Clermont, her freshman pitching counterpart, who hasn’t experienced similar recognition but is recently riding a wave of success.

In her last three appearances, she’s lowered her earned-run average by nearly a full run and has attained possibly the most important asset a pitcher can have: confidence.

The learning curve for the both of them was steep at first. But in a game where adjusting is imperative to sustaining success, it didn’t take long for them to catch on.

“Pitching-wise, I’ve definitely learned location,” O’Hara said. “Not down the middle. I got away with that in travel ball but I’ve learned from that.”

Ross said that O’Hara and Clermont have thrown more innings than she and her staff originally anticipated, but have responded well to the extra workload.

Behind the plate, Lundstrom leads the team in hitting with a .376 average and 41 hits on the year, and also leads the starting freshman trio in home runs, with five on the year.

Ross said that it was clear from day one that Lundstrom was brought to Syracuse to be the starting catcher.

In 36 games this year, her average has not dipped below .319 at any point. She just recently capped off the last road trip against Pittsburgh with a 4-for-6 performance and two doubles in a 12-7 win.

“We always wanted her behind the plate because she is really that good,” Ross said. “And we knew she was going to be that good.”

Only one of the significant freshman contributors has truly emerged from nowhere. Dewes was picked up by Syracuse to potentially be a catcher. But with complications in rehab from shoulder surgery, she was converted into an outfielder in place of the injured Riley Johnson.

Dewes has stepped on to the collegiate stage in a big way, smashing three home runs in her last five games and boasting a .339 from the ninth spot in the batting order.

“She’s a freshman who knows how to control her emotions,” said senior Jasmine Watson. “It causes teams to underestimate her, and she has carried the bottom of our lineup.”

The SU softball program was expected to go through a transition year as seven freshmen were added to the roster.

But that transition was nearly nonexistent, and now the young and jovial squad is racing toward an ACC tournament berth in the team’s first year in the conference.

Said Ross: “There’s a special bonding they all share together being in the same class, and they’re all very close.”

Published on April 16, 2014 at 1:45 am

Contact Connor: cgrossma@syr.edu | @connorgrossman