FRANKLIN – The Franklin softball team continued a 12-game homestand on Friday (Apr. 18) afternoon, hosting the Anderson Ravens for two games at Behrens Field.
The Grizzlies (15-8, 5-5 HCAC) stretched their winning streak to five games with a sweep of the Ravens (8-16, 4-6 HCAC), taking the opener 4-2 and pulling away late in game two for a 10-6 win.
Game One: Franklin 4 – Anderson 2
Franklin wasted no time getting the scoring going, with
Molly Wallace knocking home a run in the first with a sac fly.
Zoey Kugelman doubled the lead in the second with an RBI single and the teams traded runs in the third with an RBI single from
Olivia Staigl offsetting Anderson's first run and putting the Grizzlies up 3-1 with four innings to play.
Anderson cut Franklin's lead in half with a run in the fifth but
Eriana Wagner restored some breathing room in the sixth with an RBI double that brought
Hadley Fuhrman home from first. The two-run lead was plenty for senior
Kylie Kadel, as she nailed down the save with a perfect seventh inning for her first save of the season.
Lauren Duncan (7-5) turned in another strong outing in the circle, giving up two runs on eight hits with one strikeout over six innings of work. Wagner, Kugelman and
Kaylee Stewart all recorded two hits for the Grizzlies in the opener, setting the tone from the top three spots in the batting order.
Game Two: Franklin 10 – Anderson 6
The Grizzlies broke game two open in their first trip to the plate, putting up six runs in the bottom of the first. Staigl,
McKenna Lucas and
Kaylee Rhoton all drove in runs and Franklin got three runs courtesy of two Anderson throwing errors in the inning.
Wagner stretched the lead to seven with a solo home run to lead off the second, but Anderson fought back with all six of their runs in the third to make it a one-run game with lots of softball yet to play. But the Ravens would manage just two base-runners over the final four innings, while Franklin plated three in the sixth with Wallace, Lucas and
Ruth Kaiser all adding insurance runs.
Franklin got a huge relief performance from Kadel (2-0) in game two, as she allowed one hit and no runs with three strikeouts over 4.1 innings of work. Wallace was a perfect 4-for-4 with two runs at the dish wile Wagner, Kaiser and Lucas all went 2-for-4 in the game.
Up Next
Franklin plays their final two non-conference games of the year on Monday (Apr. 21), when they host Greenville University. First pitch from Behrens Field is set for 3:00 p.m.
