After being quieted in the first half of Saturday's home doubleheader against Adrian, Franklin's softball team decided it had had enough.
The Grizzlies erupted for 20 hits in the nightcap, more than enough for a 12-6 victory that gave them a split of the two games. The Bulldogs had taken the opener, 5-2.
"They made a choice," Franklin coach Britt Harvey said. "They made a choice, and again, they came out and did it as a team. They looked at the scoreboard, and they realized that coming in late wasn't doing the job. And they know now, coming in right away and throwing the first punch sends a message. And they didn't just send a message — they sent a message every single inning."
After getting shut out for the first five innings of the opener, the Griz (6-2) were on it from the get-go in game two.
Hadley Fuhrman and
Kendall Lowry had consecutive RBI singles in the first inning and
Jaylee Fansler added another in the second to give Franklin a 3-0 cushion.
Ruth Kaiser's RBI double in the third put the Grizzlies up 4-1 before the Bulldogs scored four times in the fourth to briefly take a 5-4 lead.
Kaylee Stewart tied it back up with an RBI base hit in the bottom of that frame, but Adrian got a solo homer to go back ahead, 6-5.
In the bottom of the fifth, Franklin went back ahead to stay. Winning pitcher
Zoey Kugelman singled to drive in
Brooke Lipperd and then came home on a Fansler hit. The Grizzlies put it away with a five-run sixth, getting RBI base knocks from Lipperd and
Jasmine Day, an RBI groundout from Kugelman and two more run-scoring singles from Stewart and Liv Staigl.
Stewart and Fansler both went 4 for 4 in the second game, with Kugelman, Staigl, Fuhrman, Lowry and Day each collecting two hits; all nine Griz batters had at least one.
McKenna Lucas had an RBI single in the first game of the day.
Harvey said that the vibe in the Griz dugout made her just as happy as the offensive production.
"The best part is the energy and the fire, and they do it all day," she said.
Franklin hosts two more games on Sunday, with Olivet coming to town. Game one is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m.
