FRANKLIN – The Franklin softball team returned to their home turf to open Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) play on Saturday (Mar. 30) afternoon, hosting the Mount St. Joseph Lions.
The Grizzlies (11-5, 2-0) claimed both ends of the double-header in dramatic fashion, walking off the Lions (8-10, 0-2 HCAC) in both games to win by scores of 5-4 and 4-3.
Game One: Franklin 5 – Mt. St. Joseph 4
A pitcher's duel early on, Franklin broke the scoreless tie in the bottom of the fourth inning with freshman
Karrsen Pruitt belting a two-run home run, the first long ball of her career. The lead wouldn't stand for long as the Lions plated three in the fifth and one more in the sixth and The Mount held a 4-2 lead heading to the bottom of the seventh.
Some big hits from the bottom of the order put runners on the corners with one out but a wild pitch on an intentional walk allowed
Kaylee Stewart to motor home and cut the lead to one. Two batters later,
Molly Wallace stepped up with two down and two on and belted a double all the way to the left field wall, scoring
Eriana Wagner and pinch-runner
Reanne Brinker to steal the win.
Stewart was the lone Grizzly with two hits in the game.
Lauren Duncan (5-2) battled to earn the win, giving up three earned runs with one strikeout and no walks surrendered.
Game Two: Franklin 4 – Mt. St. Joseph 3
Franklin claimed and early lead in game two, getting two in the first with
Genesis Munoz and
Kendall Lowry coming through with RBI singles to make it 2-1. The Lions plated runs in the third and fourth innings to re-claim the lead and nearly added another in the fifth, but an insurance run was cut down at the plate by
Ruth Kaiser.
Franklin drew even in the fifth with another RBI single from Munoz but the Lions were threatening again in their half of the seventh. A one-out single prompted the Lions to end a runner home, but Wagner cut down the go-ahead run at the plate to keep the game tied.
The Grizzlies needed just three batters in the seventh to close out their second walk-off win. Wallace led off with a double followed by a single from Munoz and Lowry closed out the game with a single through the left side to score Wallace and give the Grizzlies a critical conference sweep.
Munoz and Lowry both went 3-for-4 with two runs knocked in and Wallace scored twice.
Stephanni Kleber got the start in the circle and went 5.2 innings before
Abi Exl (3-0) took over, giving up two hits the rest of the way.
Up Next
Franklin steps out of conference play on Wednesday (Apr. 3) afternoon, hosting Hope College. First pitch from Behrens Field is set for 3:30 p.m.
