FRANKLIN – It was a picture perfect senior day for the Franklin College softball team on Saturday (Apr. 26) afternoon, with the Grizzlies claiming a sweep of Berea College and thanking their five senior members.
The Grizzlies (17-8, 7-5 HCAC) stayed hot, running their winning streak to seven games overall with a pair of five-inning victories. Game one saw Franklin jump on Berea (2-28, 0-14 HCAC) pitching early on the way to an 11-3 win while Franklin's bats came alive after a slow start in game two for a 10-2 win.
Between games, the program thanks its graduating members in
Eriana Wagner,
Molly Wallace,
Catie Moore,
Kylie Kadel and
Belle Neiling, with the quintet all making contributions to the sweep of the Mountaineers.
Game One: Franklin 11 – Berea 3 (5 inn.)
Each of Franklin's first four runners in the first inning reached base with
Kaylee Stewart knocking in the game's first run with a single. Wallace brought in a run later in the inning with a sac fly and Wagner swiped home for Franklin's third run.
McKenna Lucas knocked in a run with a single later in the frame, spotting Franklin a 4-0 lead heading into the second.
Wallace added another sac fly after a two-run double by
Olivia Staigl to stretch the Franklin lead to 7-0. Moore smoked a two-run double into the gap in the fourth and Franklin finished things off in the fifth with a sac fly from Stewart and an RBI single from Wagner.
Wagner was the only Grizzly with multiple hits, going 2-for-3 with three runs scored. Stewart and
Zoey Kugelman scored twice from the top of the lineup. Moore's two-run double marks her first run-scoring hit since 2023 and Neiling recorded the first hit of her career with a single in the fourth.
Lauren Duncan (8-5) fanned three batters over three innings to earn the win while Kadel worked the final two innings in the circle.
Game Two: Franklin 10 – Berea 2 (5 inn.)
Wallace kicked off the scoring in game two with an RBI single but Franklin's bats would go silent over the next two frames while Berea plated runs in the second and third innings to take their first lead of the day.
That lead came to an end in the fourth, with Franklin scoring six times in the inning to seize control. Wagner had the big blast with a three-run double while
Ruth Kaiser plated two with a single and Lucas drove in another run with an RBI double. The Grizzlies put the game away in their half of the fifth with an RBI single from Stewart and Wagner crushing a two-run home run to draw the game to a close.
Wagner went 3-for-4 with three runs scored and five RBI in the game. Kugelman went 3-for-4 with two runs scored at the top of the lineup while giving up one earned run on three hits with four strikeouts in the circle to move to 6-3 on the year.
Up Next
The Grizzlies welcome the Transylvania Pioneers to Behrens Field on Sunday (Apr. 27) afternoon for their final two home games of the regular season. First pitch of game one is set for 1:00 p.m.
