SHAWNEE — Defensive miscues and a lack of hitting troubled Lawrence softball in a 14-0 loss to St. James Academy in the season opener on Thursday.

“This is on the coaching as much as the players,” Lawrence coach Michael Byrn said. “We were poor defensively. I don’t think we’ve been tough enough in practice, and I think we’re going to have to go back to how some things were when I first got here.”

The Lions came into the season with a young roster, and some youthful mistakes occurred in a 10-run third inning for the Thunder that included five hits and two errors. After losing seniors at catcher, first base, shortstop and third base from last year, young players are stepping into bigger roles in the infield, which led to growing pains on Thursday.

“We’ve got to learn,” Byrn said. “We practice and practice, but until you’re doing it, it doesn’t sink in.”

Lawrence also had a tough outing at the plate with only two hits and no walks against seven strikeouts.

To start the game, the Thunder retired the side in order with two strikeouts. The Lions did the same in the bottom of the first with two groundouts and a flyout, and both teams repeated their defensive success in the second inning.

“It should’ve been a nothing-to-nothing game, and that’s hard to swallow,” Byrn said. “My daughters for years have said I’ve gotten softer, so we need to turn it back up like it did my first couple years to get things moving in the right direction.”

After the Lions were quickly retired with two strikeouts in the top of the third, the Thunder scored the first runs of the game after the first batter walked to first and the next three batters earned hits. Two at-bats after the two-RBI double, the Thunder scored on an error and scored a run on the next five plate appearances.

By the time the Lions got the first out, the Thunder held an 8-0 lead. Lawrence got a second out right after the first, but a walk and a single in consecutive at-bats gave the Thunder the 10-0 lead.

Shortstop Zoey Barber got the first hit of the day for Lawrence in the top of the fourth on a single. She managed to steal second and third in back-to-back at-bats, but Barber was left stranded at third for the final out of the half inning.

Barber is one of the returning Lions who does bring a lot of experience after a notable freshman campaign. Byrn said that her experience will “pay dividends” for the team going forward, especially as the season wears on.

Byrn said he expected hitting to be a little rusty for the first game but was surprised at how much the Lions struggled on Thursday.

“We’ve got to score some runs,” Byrn said. “We can’t rely on shutouts, but I don’t think today will be the norm.”

The Thunder added four more runs on three hits and two walks in the bottom of the fourth, but the Lions closed the frame with a flyout to Keira Norris at second base.

Third baseman Violet Koehn doubled with one out in the top of the fifth, but two outs in the following at-bats ended the game before Koehn could advance. The third out ended the game with the Lions finishing scoreless.

The Lions will have to quickly flush the loss and get ready to compete with two games on Friday against Manhattan at home, the first being at 4 p.m. and the second at 6 p.m.

“I am disappointed in us as a staff in how we performed,” Byrn said. “We play (St. James Academy) again on the 20th, so we will see what happens then.”