MYRTLE BEACH, SC – The Franciscan softball team split their final two games of the annual spring break trip to Myrtle Beach. The Lady Barons dropped a close 2-0 contest to Albertus Magnus before shutting out Brooklyn, 10-0, in their final game of the week.

The Lady Barons finished the week 5-3, including four-straight wins to open the week.

"We had a nice week going 5-3. Our goal was to get better every time we stepped on the field and I think we did that," remarked head coach James Walker. "Our freshmen did a really good job in their first college experience so that was really exciting. Vita [Victoria Clute] and Wheeze [Allyson Weiss] really added a lot to our lineup & Andi [Andi Queen] adds a lot of pitching depth."

Weiss led the Lady Barons with 13 hits over the eight games while driving in seven runs and scoring 12. Most notably, Weiss was an impressive 11-12 on the base paths. Clute posted a .412 batting average for the week with seven hits and three runs while driving in three runs.

The Lady Baron sophomores continued to be leaders on the field as well for Franciscan as Kayla Anderson recorded 10 hits in 18 at-bats and drove in six runs. Anderson scored nine times and stole seven bases. Dennise Carrazco picked up nine hits for the week while scoring 10 times and driving in seven runs. Carrazco had seven stolen bases for the week.

Defensively, the Lady Barons played well behind their pitches to keep Franciscan in every game.

"I was pretty happy with our defense all week," said Coach Walker. "The few times we did have some trouble, the pitchers really battled and limited any damage. Dennise and Anna Ames really played well. I don't think D had any errors all week and Anna really took charge as the vocal leader of the team as we played most of the week without all-conference first baseman Ashely Kondracki."

After the narrow 2-0 loss to Albertus Magnus in which sophomore Jayln Effertz allowed just two runs, on four hits and three strikeouts while striking out four, the Lady Barons bats came alive in their final game of the week. Franciscan posted three runs in the first inning to jump out to the quick lead over Brooklyn. After a 1-2-3 second inning, the Lady Barons batted around and posted seven runs in the third to seal the 10-0 win. Effertz allowed just two hits in the contest and struck out seven. The sophomore returns to Steubenville with an impressive 0.75 ERA over 28.0 innings pitched for the week.

"Jayln pitched two really good games today- unfortunately, we just couldn't get the big hit we needed (against Albertus Magnus)," said Coach Walker.

Franciscan brings its 5-3 record back to Ohio after an unseasonably chilly week in the south as the Lady Barons head to Baldwin Wallace on Wednesday for a 3:00 pm non-conference doubleheader.