Miranda Hearn stood on the mound and darted her eyes toward the SU bench on Mar. 30 against Notre Dame. In the first game of the doubleheader, the sophomore pitcher threw nine pitches, and eight of them were balls. After walking the first two batters of the inning, she was relieved by sophomore Sophie Dandola.

But head coach Shannon Doepking showed her confidence in Hearn against Canisius on Wednesday. She handed her the start, even though her ERA was above 6.00 before the matchup. Doepking’s faith was rewarded. Hearn pitched four innings and allowed four hits with only one earned run. She also struck out six batters in a 9-6 Syracuse (15-19, 4-5 Atlantic Coast) victory over Canisius (4-21, 2-2 Metro Atlantic Athletic).

Hearn was relieved in the fifth inning by freshman Peyton Schnackenberg. The freshman pitched two scoreless innings, the first time in her collegiate career that she finished an outing with more than an inning pitched and no earned runs.

The Orange took the lead in the second inning after junior Gianna Carideo singled home sophomores Lailoni Mayfield and Alex Acevedo. On the very at-bat, freshman Alexis Kaiser scored off a wild pitch. Three innings later, Mayfield added to the lead with a two-out single to center field while junior Toni Martin and senior Bryce Holmgren scampered home, pushing the lead to 5-2.

In the seventh inning, Mayfield added to the lead again with an RBI double, driving home senior Alicia Hansen. Mayfield now has 12 hits on 17 at-bats with 10 RBIs in her last six games.

“I think all the hard work and the extra work with the coaches has really paid off,” Mayfield said on Mar. 29.

The Orange next play North Carolina State for three games this weekend in Raleigh, North Carolina, starting Friday.