Franciscan 4, La Roche 1 - 7 Innings
Franciscan Lineup
Janey Winner LF, Emma Davis CF, Elizabeth Maxwell 3B, Elizabeth Forster 1B, Hayley Cooke P, Abigail Savage SS, Lorelei Smaciarz RF, Madison Kozares C, Janele Winner DP, and Emma Clow 2B
How It Happened
The Barons won their first home opener since 2020 defeating the visiting La Roche Redhawks 4-1.
The game was very close and for the first couple of innings a clean defensive effort. It wasn't until the bottom of the third when the Barons broke the stalemate. Kozares and
Janele Winner each got on base before Davis fired a deep shot to left field sending both runners home. The Barons held that 2-0 lead for three more innings.
In the bottom of the sixth, Maxwell was walked.
Olivia Linden came in to pinch run for her, but a runner wasn't needed, because newcomer
Elizabeth Forster got ahold of the pitch and fired her first career home run. Her two run shot put the Barons up 4-0. The Redhawks had only three outs left before conceding defeat, and the Barons were in "hold the shutout" mode.
Cook looked very comfortable in the circle all game and it seemed like she was in command of all the batter matchups. When the Redhawks did manage to get runners on base, Cooke was able to rely on strong defensive efforts, especially from Davis and Savage, to hold the lead. She found herself in another tight spot in the top of the 7th and needed one more big play from her team to wrap up the shutout. However, she found herself with bases loaded and no outs. It would most likely take two strikeouts to get out of that position. La Roche's short stop Jacobs hit a pop fly just passed first base. Her sacrifice fly brought home the third base runner and the Redhawks only run for the game. The next batter had an infield pop up, and the final out came on a fly out to left field. An incredible all around team performance from the field, the circle, and at the plate to grab their first win of the 2026 season.
At the Plate
-Davis was 2 for 3 with 2 RBI's
-Kozares was 1 for 1 from the plate
-Forster was 1 for 3 with 2 RBI's
In the Circle
-Starter Cooke pitched 7.0 innings allowing 7 hits, 1 ER, and tallying 3 strikeouts
Franciscan 7, La Roche 17 - 7 Innings
Franciscan Lineup
Janey Winner LF,
Emma Davis CF,
Elizabeth Maxwell C,
Elizabeth Forster 1B,
Hayley Cook 3B,
Abigail Savage SS,
Lorelei Smaciarz RF,
Emma Clow 2B,
Janele Winner DP, and
Olivia Linden P
How It Happened
Game two was vastly different than game 1. The Barons dug an early hole allowing 7 runs in the first inning. They crept their way back getting to within two runs by the third inning, but the Redhawks blanked them before adding five more runs to the lead. For the remainder of the game, the Barons were on the brink of the run rule and fighting for more innings to give them another chance at coming back.
The star of the show today was
Emma Davis. After having an excellent game one, she followed that up with another excellent outing in CF and going 3 for 5 with 2 runs and an RBI. Nipping on her heels was short stop
Abigail Savage. She routinely made plays her way look easy, and, well, routine. She also had an excellent game at the plate batting 1.000 for the game.
Unfortunately, the two disaster innings that the Barons allowed a total of 12 runs was too much to overcome. The bittersweet takeaway is we got to see deep into the Barons bullpen, including
Janey Winner's first appearance in the circle. She showed her athleticism by holding her own for much of the game.
At the Plate
-Savage was a perfect 3 of 3 with 1 run and 4 RBI's
-Davis was 3 for 5 with 2 runs and 1 RBI
-Forster and Clow each went 2 for 4 with an RBI
In the Circle
-Starter Linden pitched 0.2 innings allowing 4 hits, 1 ER, and tallying 1 strikeout
-Relief pitcher Winner pitched 3.0 innings allowing 9 hits, 5 ERs, and tallying 1 strikeout
-Closer Cooke pitched 3.1 innings allowing 7 runs, 2 ERs, and tallying 1 strikeout
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