After opening its Atlantic 10 season 3-1, the softball team was sitting near the top of the conference standings and seemingly moving in the right direction following the struggles of last season. The Colonials hit a bump in their road to recovery though over the weekend, getting swept in a pair of doubleheaders against Saint Joseph’s and Temple.

Saturday, Saint Joseph’s dominated the Colonials in the first game, jumping out to a 5-0 lead in the first two innings en route to a 10-0 victory in five innings over GW. The Colonials managed to keep the score closer in the second game of the twin-bill, holding the Hawks to one run, but GW’s bats failed to back up junior starter Kara Clauss’ one-hit performance and Saint Joseph’s escaped with the 1-0 win.

Sunday, GW once again struggled to put runs on the board against Temple. In the first game, the two teams did all of their scoring within the first two innings, and GW scored its only run of the game in the first frame when sophomore Tara Fogarty drove in freshman leftfielder Chelsea Lenhart.

Temple took the lead in the top of the second with a pair of runs and never surrendered the lead back to the Colonials.

“Honestly, we weren’t making good decisions at the plate,” head coach Stacey Schramm said of her team’s offensive performance at the plate. The Colonials only managed two runs and seven hits during the doubleheader.

Clauss, who also started game one against the Owls, pitched well through seven innings, registering six strikeouts and throwing just 81 pitches while opposing Temple starter Kristen Marris needed 134 pitches to earn the win.

A bright spot, Schramm said, was the pitching performances from Clauss and junior Heidi Penna, who started and took the loss in game two for the Colonials. Penna pitched a complete game for GW Sunday, surrendering 10 hits and striking out three.

Temple set the tone early in the second contest, tallying the first run of the game off a sacrifice fly after Owls leadoff hitter Kristen Marris tripled to start the game. The Colonials’ only run of the contest came off a solo home run by sophomore infielder Julie Orlandi in the third.

The Owls played stellar defense, limiting GW to just three hits. Ultimately, Temple sealed the game with a run in each of the final two innings, handing the Colonials their fourth-straight loss of the weekend.

While GW’s offensive struggles were apparent over the course of the weekend to the Colonials’ head coach, Schramm noted that her squad must continue to play solid defense in order to get more wins as the season progresses.

The Colonials will look to return to their winning ways on the road against Fordham this Friday, with first pitch set for 3 p.m.