Syracuse, NY – The first Olympian in Syracuse softball history also became the first Olympic medalist early Tuesday morning when Canada beat Mexico 3-2. Jenna Caira ’12 put up one and two-thirds innings of relief, allowing for a well-deserved run with three hits in victory. Canada has competed in five Olympics, but Tokyo 2020 marks the first time Canadians have brought home a medal.
Canada led 2-0 after two innings, but Mexico halved their lead in the top of the third inning. Caira entered the circle in the fourth and had a clean slate in her first inning. She got into trouble when she gave up a leadoff single in midfield. A victim Bunt put Mexico in the scoring position and three thugs later Suzannah Brookshire drew 2-2 in Mexico’s second run with a singles-to-right field. Danielle Lawrie came to end the game after Mexico tied things up. Canada took the lead in the lower half of the fifth innings to take the lead back and Lawrie’s beat four batter over the final 2.1 innings to secure the win.
Caria finished her Olympic debut with a 1-1 record in five appearances with an earned average of 1.24 in 11.1 innings.
Caira, a four-year-old Orange letter winner from 2009-12, began playing for her native Canada in 2009. With the return of softball to the Tokyo Summer Olympics, Caira formed their first Olympic squad. The all-time leader of wins, appearances, shutouts and innings in Syracuse is now adding the Olympic medalist to her long list of career achievements. Caira became the first player in Big East history to record 1,000 career strikeouts and was named senior as an NFHCA All-American in 2012. Caira has played for Team Canada since 2009.
Softball returned to the Summer Olympics for the first time since 2008 this year and will take a hiatus in 2024 before returning to the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.
Katie Zaferes ’12, already a bronze medalist in the women’s individual triathlon, doubled on Friday evening and won silver in the mixed relay.
In the first mixed relay Olympic race, Zaferes teamed up with Kevin McDowell, Taylor Knibb and Morgan Pearson to win the silver medal. Great Britain won gold, France silver.
The orange alum earlier this week became the third American to ever receive a medal in triathlon at the Olympics.
Zaferes is the fifth Orange alumni to have won multiple medals in a single Olympiad, but for the first time since the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam. Meyer Prinstein (2x; 1900 Paris – triple jump / long jump, 1904 St. Louis – triple jump / long jump), Charlie Reidpath (1912 Stockholm – 400m / 4 × 400 meter relay), Chet Bowman (1924 Paris – 100m. 4 × 400 -Meter relay) and Ray Barbuti (1928 Amsterdam – 4 × 100/4 × 400-meter relay) are the others who accomplish the feat.
In Syracuse, she was Orange’s first USTFCCCA Northeast Region Performer of the Year and received the Cross Country honor in 2009. She won the NCAA Northeast Regional that season and led the Orange to the first team title in the history of The Second Journey of the program Orange women at the NCAA Cross Country Championships. She then also became an All-American in the 3,000-yard obstacle course for ‘Cuse.
Zaferes’ two medals and Jenna Caira’s bronze with Canadian softball bring the number of medals for Orange Olympians to three, making the 2008 Olympics the most medals in a single game. Syracuse also had Hattie Taylor for Great Britain in fourth place in rowing, with Jerami Grant, Kayla Alexander and Justyn Knight still running or still running.
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