STEUBENVILLE, Ohio - After being plagued with injuries, Franciscan University softball could not regroup in order to win their home doubleheader against D'Youville College; the Lady Barons lost 18-3 and 16-0.

The first game began slowly, with the Spartans gradually gaining runs against FUS, going into the bottom of the fifth leading 5-0.

Sophomore Katrina Fabian put Franciscan on the board with a homerun in the fifth inning, with freshman Hailey Wesselman hitting a double afterwards. Junior Becca Peters and senior Catherine Durand followed with RBIs and FUS ended the fifth inning down just two runs.

Unfortunately for the Lady Barons, DYC scored five more runs in the sixth, and eight in the seventh to secure the victory.

"We played fairly well the beginning of the first game and unfortunately we couldn't sustain that," head coach Jen Parker said. "We are dealing with some issues. We have three players out now due to injury and that definitely doesn't give us the advantage."

With the starting catcher, centerfielder, and first baseman inactive, FUS had to shift their fielding around in ways they weren't accustomed to, adding to their challenges.

"We had to shift around and out into different positions, positions they had never played," Parker said. "They stepped up and I think they played fairly well at each of those positions."

Peters played as catcher, freshman Shannon Sommers stepped in as first baseman, sophomore Katrina Fabian moved into the shortstop position and the outfielders were also rearragned.

"I have to commend them for stepping up and taking on those roles," Parker said. "As we move forward with some more practices, they will get a little more comfortable in those roles. We really need to just minimize the mistakes again."

The second game proved to be too difficult adjusting to the changes for Franciscan to get a win. The Spartans took a five-run lead in the first inning and FUS was never able to catch up.

"We play some great innings and if we could reproduce those innings more often than we reproduce the innings with a lot of errors, we would be in great shape," Parker said. "We do need to work on our communication on the field."

With injuries and defensive struggles being a main focus of the day's doubleheader, the team is looking to refocus and adjust where necessary in order to create some wins late in the season. They are back in action on Tuesday, April 16, at La Roche College at 3 and 5 p.m.