STEUBENVILLE, Ohio— In its home opening games after a week of play in Florida the Franciscan softball team lost to Waynesburg University, losing the first game 19-5 and the second 14-5.

Despite offensive sparks from Franciscan at the beginning of both games the team couldn't quite match the level of play from Waynesburg in its second year of Division III play dropping down from previously playing in Division II.

"This is the first time we're playing this team," head coach Jen Parker said. "We were definitely playing a team that had a little bit more experience than us but I think we did fairly well and I don't think there's anything to hang our heads about."

The team should do anything but hang their heads when looking at the beginning of the first game. Going into the first at bat, down five runs, the team rallied and pulled out their own five runs to match their opponent.

"Our order just lit up," Parker said. "Kim drove in a bunch of runs with her home run and it was good for us because they started out with five runs and that's a little intimidating to come into."

Senior infielder Rosemary Cassidy started off the success at bat and it continued through as sophomore Elizabeth Knabb bunted Cassidy over and junior pitcher Ashley Ruttencutter got on base. Then the freshman, Kim Muscat, set it all rolling in with her homerun.

"They did a really great job and played a really great game through about the third inning and then we just fell apart a little bit," Parker said. "Waynesburg ran up the runs and it wasn't something we could recover from."

The game was called at the end of the fifth inning due to the mercy rule but both teams then looked on to the next game. Although the first game was plagued by rain the second game saw blue skies and the sun coming out.

"In the second game we started out pretty strong," Parker said. "With three runs in the first inning we were batting really well."

With a flash of excitement and determination from the team, Molly Clanahan, Cassidy and Mallori Linscomb all worked their way around the bases to make the score 4-3 going into the second inning.

A miscommunication between Parker and a player led to the team not gaining another possible run but ended the inning in high spirits.

On the fielding end Parker said the team did well only garnering 5 errors in the game.

"In the first game we definitely had a lot more errors so they definitely improved from game to game," Parker said. "That's all I can ask of them, to take what you can learn from each game and get better."

Parker said that it has not been a consistent thing in the past for the team to be so up front about getting hits in the first inning so she looks forward to keeping the bats coming early to help them in the future.

"Coming back from Florida the team is a lot more cohesive and bonded so we look forward to moving forward together as one unit," Parker said.

The team moves on to play at Grove City College on Friday March 21 with the first game at 3:30p.m. and the second at 5:30p.m.

"They were pretty tough last year but we'll see what we can do with them this year," Parker said of taking on Grove City on Friday.