With a quick throw from second to first, Stephanie Watts and Kelly Saco completed a storybook regular-season ending for Syracuse.

Watts turned on a dime, snared a slow rolling grounder up the middle that ricocheted off pitcher Jenna Caira’s outstretched glove and rifled a throw to Saco, who performed a full split for the second out of the seventh inning.

Caira said she knew that her final game at Skytop Softball Stadium would be a special one from that point on. And one out later, the seniors Watts and Saco were among the first players to mob Caira after her second no-hitter of the season.

‘Throwing a no-hitter in the last game of the regular season is typical Jenna Caira,’ Watts said. ‘It’s hard to think up a better way to end this season than that.’

Caira’s eight-strikeout, no-hitter highlighted Syracuse’s (40-13, 17-5) 7-0 win over No. 18 South Florida (45-10, 17-5) in front of 323 at SU Softball Complex on Sunday. The win on senior day gave the Orange its second in the three-game series and clinched SU’s second 40-win season in school history on the final weekend of the regular season.

It came after the Orange and Bulls split a pair of games on Saturday, with SU defeating USF, 2-0, and the Bulls responding with a 4-3, eight-inning win in game two.

Caira’s brilliance in the circle coupled with outstanding defense helped the Orange overcome injuries to senior outfielder Lisaira Daniels and freshman outfielder Julie Wambold. Daniels missed the entire series with a knee injury and Wambold joined Daniels on the bench after Bulls pitcher Sara Nevins hit her in the second game.

Syracuse heads into the Big East tournament this week with momentum, earning the tiebreaker over the Bulls for the No. 3 seed. As a result, the Orange will avoid powerhouses DePaul, Louisville and South Florida in the early rounds.

‘We had an easier time against those teams,’ assistant head coach Wally King. ‘To get that tiebreaker is huge.’

Injuries aside, Ross said she couldn’t be happier with this weekends’ outcome. Without Daniels and Wambold hitting second and third in the lineup, SU still produced offensively to beat one of the top teams in the conference.

And the Orange defense was stellar in support of Caira’s dominant performance.

Catcher Lacey Kohl filled in for Daniels at right field admirably, grabbing a deep fly ball in the second game that would’ve left the park otherwise. And Saco played first base in game three, allowing Jasmine Watson to shift to the vacated designated player spot in place of the injured Wambold.

Caira said she wouldn’t have kept South Florida out of the hits column without a complete effort behind her defensively.

‘(Watts) bailed me out there,’ Caira said. ‘Now, it’s really all about the team. Knowing I have players behind me that make the right plays is a huge difference.’

When SU lost this season, it was usually on poor fielding and defensive mistakes. So when Saco stretched to catch Watts’ throw from second, Ross said she couldn’t help but think her team is playing its best at the right time.

In one dominant performance featuring lights-out pitching and great defense, the Orange showed that it could win its third consecutive Big East tournament title.

‘When the defense plays like it did today, we’re going to be tough to beat,’ Ross said. ‘We’re peaking at the right time.’

Pitching coach Mike Bosch said Caira’s arm is peaking at the right time, too. Much like last year, Bosch said, the ace of the Orange staff is coming into her own as the postseason begins.

With 22 family members on hand to watch Caira, she didn’t disappoint. And though Caira knows the Orange still has plenty to achieve in the postseason, it was a near-perfect ending to the last home game of her career.

‘It’s not over yet,’ Caira said. ‘But for a senior weekend, having everything come all together at the same time was awesome. It was like a movie.’

nctoney@syr.edu 

Published on May 6, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Nick: nctoney@syr.edu | @nicktoneytweets