CLERMONT, Fla. - Rough first innings continued to plague the Franciscan softball team in their games against Thiel College and Southern Maine, losing 17-1 and 13-0 respectively.

The Lady Barons gave up 21 total runs in the first innings of both games, 11 against Thiel and 10 more against Southern Maine.

"Really, the biggest problem we are having right now in both games are the first innings," head coach James Walker said. "After we get through the first inning and get the nerves out of our system, we are pretty much playing every team even up. It's just getting through that first inning."

The first-inning nerves manifested themselves mostly on the defensive end as Franciscan committed three errors in the first inning of each game, essentially giving each opposing team three additional outs. Giving up additional outs on top of a strong offense proved to be fatal.

Sophomore pitcher Jordan Cunningham had to work hard to overcome the struggling defense behind her and did not allow a single walk in the second game against Southern Maine.

"Our pitchers are doing a lot better," Walker said. "We were walking six to seven batters in a game. To have no walks in a game, that's a big improvement for Jordan."

The first game saw the majority of the Lady Barons offense with only one run scored on the afternoon. Freshman Lizzy Hernandez ran the bases well with two stolen bases and a run scored off of sophomore Iliana Gonzales's first hit of the season.

In a team laden with freshmen and first-time players, the trip to Florida already has seen a lot of improvement from the first game. Since the doubleheader against Penn St.-Hazelton, Franciscan has not dropped a fly ball despite having an inexperienced outfield and limited resources to practice fly balls.

"We have two freshman that have never played softball before starting in the outfield," Walker said. "Caroline Durand and Cecilia Lademan are playing amazing in the outfield right now, which is a big improvement for us."

As for the first inning jitters, Walker said that following the afternoon's game, the team talked about how to better mentally prepare themselves.

"The only thing we've decided is that we have to pick up the intensity in pre-game a little bit more so that when we go on the field, we're taking the same intensity from pre-game right into the game," Walker said.

The Lady Barons will wrap up their Spring Break road trip against St. Mary-Woods on March 13 at 1 pm.