NICK MERSCH
SPORTS EDITOR
In its biggest matchups of the season, Franciscan University of Steubenville’s softball team lost a close battle against the Mount Aloysius Mounties, 10-6, on Wednesday, March 27, at 3 p.m., followed by another 13-0 loss to the same team.
Under a finally-sunny Steubenville sky, sophomore pitcher Andi Queen took care of business in the first inning, notching the first strikeout of the game and getting all three batters out. The Barons stepped up to the plate after the shutout top half and opened up the scoring off of an RBI single from freshman outfielder Rachel Cooper that scored sophomore second baseman Allyson Weiss, who stole second base to set up the play. The Barons headed into the second with a 1-0 lead.
Queen threw her second strikeout but let up her first run in the top of the second, tying the score 1-1, and the Barons couldn’t answer in the latter half of the inning, with two strikeouts and a fly out. The third inning was a similar story as both teams were held scoreless with only one hit given up by the Barons.
The Mounties picked the scoring up in the fourth, taking the lead with two more runs, but the Barons were ready and took an aggressive approach at the plate and scored four runs. Freshman catcher Chloe Cross smacked an RBI double that brought home freshman infielder Anna Swierczewski and moved senior third baseman Anna Ames to third.
Next at bat, freshman infielder Mary Roach singled, bringing home Ames and advancing Cross to third. Shortly after this play, the Lady Barons’ offense stayed hot as freshman designated hitter Brittany Olsen-Graham hit a sacrifice ground ball for two RBIs, with Cross and Roach stepping over home plate. The score going into the fifth was 5-3 in favor of the home team.
The fifth inning was troublesome for the Lady Barons’ defense as the Mounties stepped up their offense, scoring five runs off of Queen and bringing the score to 8-5 Mounties. The Barons had trouble picking up their momentum offensively from the fourth and failed to score in the bottom half of the fifth.
Unfortunately, the offensive struggles continued for Franciscan throughout the rest of the game, as they were held to one more run off of an RBI single to left field from junior shortstop Dennise Carrazco that scored Weiss, who was on third. The Mounties tacked on two more runs in the sixth inning and the final score was 10-6 in favor of Mount Aloysius.
This was just the first game of a double-header for the Lady Barons. The second game ended with another loss, but the Mounties were a bit more dominant as they posted a 13-0 shutout.
Head coach James Walker was disappointed with the team’s performance but had a few positives to offer up: “The good thing about playing Mount Aloysius early is we can put it behind us and move forward. We still have a lot of softball to play, so these two games don’t really affect us in our goal of making the playoffs.”
The Lady Barons look to bounce back against D’Youville College Saturday, March 30, at 1 and 3 p.m. for another double header match up.