STEUBENVILLE – The Franciscan softball team set the program record for wins in a season with a doubleheader sweep of Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference opponent, Penn State Altoona, Wednesday. The Lady Barons took the first game 5-3 before finishing the sweep and earning their 15^th win of the season with a 6-0 victory in the night cap.
 
The Lady Barons picked up their 14^th and 15^th wins of the season this afternoon, setting the program's record for wins in a single season. In the last five years since head coach Jim Walker, the Lady Barons have almost six-times as many wins as in the previous six years. Under Coach Walker, Franciscan has posted 45 wins.
 
Franciscan got out to an early lead in the first inning as sophomore Allyson Weiss came home on a groundout from junior Kathleen Thompson. Starting pitcher, senior Amanda Pulice, had a scoreless first inning before the Lions took the lead, 2-1, in the top of the second.
 
Sophomore Andi Queen came in of relief of Pulice and gave up just one run over five innings of work to pick up the win.

Franciscan opened up the game with a three-run bottom of the second on four hits and an Altoona error. Thompson tied the game as she reached on an error by the second baseman and junior Dennise Carrazco came around to score. Freshmen Rachel Cooper and Anna Swierczewski strung together a pair of RBI to give Franciscan a 4-2 lead.
 
Weiss pushed the Lady Baron lead to 5-2 as she led off the bottom of the fifth with a solo homerun.
 
Penn State Altoona scored a run on two hits in the top of the sixth but Queen worked herself out a jam to keep the lead for Franciscan. Queen gave up a lead-off single to start the seventh but retired the next three batters to seal the win.
 
"I am just really proud of how our pitchers battled today," remarked Coach Walker. "Amanda, Andi and Sarah (Keating) all went out and battled today. To give up just three runs between the two games was extraordinary."
 
The Lady Barons got another stellar pitching performance from freshman Sarah Keating in game two. Keating tossed her ninth complete-game win of the year to set the program's single-season individual win record with nine. Keating is now 9-1 on the season with a 2.41 ERA.
 
After a 1-2-3 first for both teams, the Lions got the first two hits of the game with a pair of two-out hits before Keating got a groundout to get out of the frame. Swierczewski got the Lady Barons on the board with a solo shot to lead off the second. Five batters later, freshman Mary Roach walked to load the bases with one out. Carrazco then brought home senior Anna Ames and freshman Jenny Massey to extend the Franciscan lead to 3-0 in the second.
 
The Lady Barons left the bases loaded in the second but the damage was done and Franciscan had a solid 3-0 lead.
 
Franciscan pushed its lead to 4-0 with an RBI single from Thompson to bring home Weiss and Keating did not allow a runner past second for the rest of the game.
 
Weiss put the finishing touches on the 6-0 win as she homered for the second time on the day in the bottom the sixth with Ames on third after a lead-off triple.
 
"Not only did we get great pitching today, but our defense played outstanding," continued Coach Walker. "We made the plays we had to today."
 
Weiss went 5-for-7 for the day with five runs scored and three RBI. Four of Weiss's five hits were extra base hits.
 
"Wheeze [Allyson Weiss] has been swinging the bat really well as of late," complimented Coach Walker.
 
The Lady Barons will hit the road this weekend to kick off a four-game road trip. Franciscan travels to Hilbert on Saturday for a 1:00 pm AMCC doubleheader before taking on Medaille on Sunday at 2:00 pm.