STEUBENVILLE, Ohio– Franciscan University women's softball team hosted its first home games of the season, losing the doubleheader 13-0 and 15-0 in five innings each to Grove City College.

"All of our defense struggled," head coach James Walker said. "Our pitchers threw strikes, but we just didn't catch the ball behind them."

After giving up 13 runs in game one, the start of game two seemed encouraging with the lady Barons holding Grove City scoreless for the first inning. The opposing team tallied up 4 runs in the top of the second, however, to take a lead they would hold for the remainder of the game.

With only one run to Grove City in the third, the Lady Barons were still in it until several defensive errors in a particularly frustrating fourth inning put them behind 15-0.

Walker said the inexperience of the young team also played a big part in their offensive inconsistency.

"Some of our girls hit the ball hard, we just didn't string enough hits together to score any runs," Walker said.

The coach added that he had expected a difficult game from the more seasoned Grove City team who went 6-3 in their Spring Break schedule but that the fourth inning proved that the Lady Barons have a ways to go.

"We're a young team and players are kind of learning the ropes. Everybody's making improvements," Walker said. "That second game got a little out of hand, so we just have to move on from that."

Looking forward to their next game against Waynesburg on Wednesday, March 18 at 3 and 5pm, Walker said the team will need to refocus their efforts.

"I think we should be able to compete with them," Walker said. "We just have to put this game behind us. We've played a pretty tough schedule so far, but I haven't really seen anybody that we can't compete with on our schedule from here on out."