Franklin softball coach Britt Harvey had a feeling the back end of Saturday's doubleheader against Kalamazoo was going to be far more challenging than the front — and she was right.

The Grizzlies, however, answered the call.

Right fielder Kaylee Stewart and catcher Kali Laycock combined to throw out the would-be tying run at home plate, putting the finishing touches on a 4-3 victory after an easy 8-0 rout in the season opener at Indian Creek High School.

"They showed up with what we've been trying to define our season with," Harvey said. "Their absolute will to not give up ... they showed up and got the job done."

Franklin (2-0) coasted in game one, getting a no-hitter from hurler Lauren Duncan and a five-run first inning that set the tone early on. RBI singles from Jaylee Fansler and Hadley Fuhrman bookended a three-run double from Brooke Lipperd as the Grizzlies batted around. Sacrifice flies from Rylan DeHart and Ruth Kaiser in the third and fourth inning, respectively, stretched the lead to 7-0, and Fansler finished the game with a single off the top of the left-field wall that scored Zoey Kugelman.

Duncan faced the minimum 15 batters, with the only blemish a second-inning error that was immediately wiped out by an inning-ending double play. She finished with four strikeouts and walked nobody.

Kugelman started the nightcap and gave herself an early lead when she walked to lead off the bottom of the first inning, took third on a Stewart double and scored on a sacrifice fly by Fuhrman. Fansler added a solo homer in the bottom of the third and scored again on a Fuhrman double in the fifth. That 3-0 cushion was enough for Kugelman, who struck out three and allowed just one hit over three scoreless innings before giving way to freshman Rylan Young. The visitors picked up a run off an error in the top of the sixth, but Franklin got it back in the bottom half when a Kugelman single plated Jasmine Day.

In the seventh, though, the Hornets rallied with two out, a double cutting the gap to 4-2 and leaving runners on second and third. A hard single to right field plated the first of those runs, but Stewart's throw home got in well ahead of the second baserunner and Laycock held on to make the game-clinching tag.

Fansler led the Griz offense on the day by going 3 for 4 with a homer, three runs scored and three batted in as well as three walks. Fuhrmann was 4 for 5 and Lipperd 3 for 5, each knocking in three runs.

"They came out swinging like we asked them too," Harvey said. "They're starting to buy into it — through the ball, dents in the fence all day."

The Grizzlies will head to Transylvania this coming Saturday (March 14) for games against Denison and Millikin at the Pioneer Classic.