The Seton Hall softball team will head to upstate New York this weekend for a three game series against Syracuse.
The team is looking to right the ship heading into the latter stages of the season, as they have lost four out of their last five, and are 2-9 in Big East play.
The Pirates currently are stuck in the basement of the Big East Conference, but the Orange are not an insurmountable foe as they sit just two spots ahead carrying a 4-7 conference record into the game.
With 11 of the team's final 14 games being Big East matches, the Hall has ample time to improve on their conference standing.
Head coach Paige Smith is well aware of the team's necessity to pick up some conference wins, and realizes the key will be in the circle.
"We've been getting a lot of good innings from Casey Moses, and Danielle (DeStaso) has been strong for us in Big East play," Smith said.
Last year the Pirates' trip to Syracuse was a miserable one, as the team was swept in a three game series getting outscored 19-4.
"I think if we field the ball behind Casey, because she gets us some ground balls, then we're going to do well," Smith said.
But after having their bats silenced by Hofstra, the Pirates will need to bring their hitting shoes to Syracuse, and provide a jolt to a recently stagnant offense.
"We need to get our bats live early in the game and jump on them, scoring runs early," Moses said.
With a record of 1-4 on the road this year in Big East play, the Pirates are looking to reach .500 after the weekend in that category. They can hopefully benefit from the fact that Syracuse has only gotten to play five home games this year (2-3).
As teams in the Big East begin to jockey for positioning heading into the conference tournament, Seton Hall understands they have the opportunity to play the "dark horse."
"At this point everyone could be looking at us and underestimating us, so this is our chance to jump on teams that don't think we can beat them," Moses said.
Junior Jasmine Watson is batting .288 for the Orange and leads her team in hits and average. She is tied with senior Veronica Grant for team lead in homeruns with 8, and they are both the teams leaders in rbi with 19 and 30 respectively. The Hall will have to keep tabs on both of them if they want to have a shot at winning the series.
Daniel Keefe can be reached at daniel.keefe@student.shu.edu
