With one out and the winning run 60 feet from home plate, it was Andrea Bombace with a chance — her second of the game — to drive in the winning run.

She was 0-for-4 when she dug in to the batter’s box in the bottom of the tenth inning. She had already left four runners on base in the game and, down in the count 0-2, was on the verge of leaving another stranded. Corinne Ozanne, the winning run, stood just 60 feet away at third base.

But on the 0-2 pitch, Bombace took an inside-out swing that punched an inner-half fastball up the middle. Her soft liner landed just beyond second base and scored Ozanne to give Syracuse (22-18, 7-9 Atlantic Coast) a 5-4 walk-off win over North Carolina State (20-25, 4-10) in game two of a doubleheader Saturday at SU Softball Stadium. In the first game, an NC State win, the score was also 5-4.

“What I was thinking is just stay relaxed,” Bombace said. “That’s my thing, relax and stay calm.”

Bombace’s walk-off hit was the first of the freshman’s career and SU’s second of the year. The first, a Sydney O’Hara double against Georgia Tech two weeks ago, gave the Orange an 8-7 win in the 13th inning. Saturday’s 10th inning walk-off was SU’s fifth extra-inning win of the season.

Ozanne led off the tenth inning on Saturday by drilling a knee-high pitch into right-center field. She had worked the count to 3-2 before sending the rocket whizzing over the second baseman’s head.

“To see her go (opposite field) like that, I think it makes her special,” SU assistant coach Alisa Goler said. “When I saw where the ball was pitched and she put that swing on it, that’s her bread and butter right there, that right-center gap. It was a beautiful swing.”

With Ozanne representing the winning run at second base and no outs in the inning, O’Hara was due up. But SU assistant coach Alisa Goler called Hailey Archuleta to pinch hit for O’Hara, who wasn’t feeling well. Syracuse head coach Mike Bosch was ejected for arguing a call at the plate in the first inning, so Goler was the one who sent Archuleta to the plate to try to get Ozanne over to third base.

After failing to get a bunt down on her first try, Archuleta laid one down to advance Ozanne, setting up Bombace’s walk-off.

“I think she still has a little bit of the jitters sometimes when she gets in there,” SU assistant coach Kristyn Sandberg said of Bombace. “But she’s one that you constantly talk to and keep her relaxed.”

Bombace’s first opportunity to drive in runs came in the bottom of the first inning. N.C. State had just scored four runs in the top half, but Syracuse had runners on first and second base. Bombace hit a short dribbler to end the inning.

In the fourth, Bombace reached on a fielder’s choice and then scored on a Hannah Dossett single. In the seventh, after O’Hara tied the game at four with an infield single, Bombace had a chance to drive in Ozanne from second base. Bombace fell behind 1-2 and flew out to right field.

But she took good swings in the at-bat, fouling two pitches almost straight back and just missing the ball she flew out on, Goler said.

In the 10th inning, she got a second chance. Ozanne was on base representing the winning run again, just as she was three innings prior.

This time, Bombace delivered.

Published on April 16, 2016 at 9:16 pm

Contact Matthew: mguti100@syr.edu | @MatthewGut21