Attitude and confidence.

That’s what’s missing from this season, and that’s what captain Morgan Nandin says Syracuse needs to close out games and shake a disappointing 5-9 start to the season.

“We just got to learn how to win again. We’ll be winning up to the seventh inning and then we kind of get scared,” Nandin said. “We got to have that attitude. Go up to the box confident.”

With encouragement from the team’s captains, Syracuse looks to restore that attitude Tuesday when they kick off the weeklong Spring Fling Tournament in O’ahu, Hawaii. There, the Orange will face the likes of Utah, California, Baylor and Hawaii. Mental errors and low confidence have unnerved the young team, as Syracuse has dropped nine games in 14 tries. Four games have been decided by one run. Last season, the team went through 29 games before tallying the same number of losses.

With the exception of Jasmine Watson, Nandin and redshirt senior Gaby Torzilli, the infield is occupied by freshmen and sophomores and the shaky confidence level of the team reflects that.

“Experience on the field is the biggest difference from last year,” head coach Leigh Ross said.

As captains, Watson, Veronica Grant and Nandin, have taken responsibility for corralling the young team’s spirits when hiccups do arise on the field. Each captain provides a distinct leadership quality — Nandin leads by example, Watson plays the role of “loving teddy bear,” and Grant guides players with her vocality and natural leadership instincts, Nandin said.

The trio of captains divides the on-the-field communication — Watson and Nandin man the infield and Grant the outfield. Watson has noticed the team’s nerves shaken on small errors such as missed ground balls.

“I think we’re getting kind of caught up in our own world, our own minds and we’re not really thinking as a team,” Watson said.

In addition to the on-field communication, Grant has lifted the team as an offensive stalwart. When the team’s come down on itself after a disappointing sequence, Syracuse has rallied around Grant’s strong offensive play, Nandin said. On the season, Grant has wrangled five home runs and 12 runs batted in.

“When the team’s been struggling, Ronnie has been crushing the ball. Absolutely crushing it,” Nandin said.” I know, if we’re falling behind, we’ll make an error or they’ll score, Ronnie comes up to bat, crushes a home run.”

But in order for the team to dig itself from the loss column, Syracuse will need more than Grant’s effectiveness.

Syracuse returned to fundamentals in preparation for the trek to Hawaii, swapping team practice for smaller workouts where they broke down the mechanics of hitting and fielding, an effort Nandin thinks will pay off when SU looks to rebound in Hawaii.

“We’re really breaking it down to fundamentals,” she said. “You can tell the infield has a lot more confidence than it did last weekend. We’re really starting to come together and trust each other.

“I feel like we’re going to into this tournament with a lot more attitude and confidence.”

Published on March 12, 2013 at 12:36 am

Contact Debbie: dbtruong@syr.edu | @debbietruong