FRANKLIN – The Franklin softball team continued a 12-game homestand on Wednesday (Apr. 16) afternoon with two critical conference matchups with the Rose-Hulman Engineers.
 
The Grizzlies (13-8, 3-5 HCAC) claimed two wins in dominant fashion, with the pitching staff tossing two shutouts and allowing just five Engineer (10-10, 4-4 HCAC) hits and the offense racking up 26 hits over the two games. Franklin took game one in six innings 8-0 before winning game two by a 7-0 count.

It marks four straight overall matchups that the Grizzlies have held the Engineers scoreless and eight straight wins for Franklin over Rose-Hulman overall. 
 
Game One: Franklin 8 – Rose-Hulman 0 (6 inn.)
Sophomore pitcher Lauren Duncan dominated the Engineers in the opener, improving to 6-5 on the year after two hits with four strikeouts and no walks in her first shutout of the season. The Peru, Ind.-native matched a career-best output in a complete game effort, matching the two-hit shutout she tossed against Anderson on Apr. 6, 2024.
 
Duncan got all the run support she would need in the first when Molly Wallace singled in a run to make it 1-0. That score held until the bottom of the fifth when Eriana Wagner clobbered a two-run moonshot over the left field wall to triple the lead. Franklin broke the game open and brought it to a close in the sixth, with Hadley Fuhrman doubling in a run, Zoey Kugelman singling home two and Wallace knocking in the game-ending run.
 
Wallace and Kaylee Stewart each went 3-for-4 at the plate with Stewart scoring three times. All nine players in Franklin's starting lineup finished with at lead one hit in the game, with the Grizzlies finishing game one with 15 base knocks.
 
Game Two: Franklin 7 – Rose-Hulman 0
The Grizzlies wasted no time putting the Engineers in a hole, plating four runs in their first trip to the plate. Olivia Staigl opened the scoring with an RBI single, Ruth Kaiser followed with a run-scoring double and Kendall Lowry capped the scoring with a two-run single.
 
Kaiser knocked in her second run of the game with a ground out in the third and Stewart recorded RBI singles in the fourth and sixth innings, respectively, to close out the scoring.
 
Freshman pitcher Zoey Kugelman was brilliant in the circle and with the bat. The Mooresville, Ind.-native allowed three hits with two walks and two strikeouts to earn her second straight shutout and move to 5-3 overall. At the plate, Kugelman went 3-for-4 with three runs scored and two triples from the leadoff spot.
 
Staigl joined her teammate with three hits in the game, going 3-for-3 with a run scored.
 
Up Next
Franklin's long homestand continues on Friday (Apr. 18) afternoon with two games against the Anderson Ravens on tap. First pitch from Behrens Field is set for 3:00 p.m.